Lando Norris Claims Sprint Pole As McLaren Upgrades Deliver In Miami

Lando Norris secured the Sprint pole position at the Miami Grand Prix on Friday, setting the only lap below the 1:28 barrier with a time of 1m27.869s on the Soft compound. The defending World Champion, who took his first Grand Prix victory at this circuit in 2024, finished more than two tenths of a second clear of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second, with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri third. The two McLaren drivers will line up in the first two rows for Saturday’s Sprint race.

The result came on a day when McLaren brought its first phase of MCL40 developments to the Miami International Autodrome, with upgrades to the front and rear brake ducts, bodywork, floor and rear wing. Both Norris and Piastri, who spent extra time on the simulator in Woking through April looking to find further performance, completed 35 laps each during an extended 90-minute Free Practice 1 session before Sprint Qualifying got underway.

Early signs suggest the package is working as intended. From the opening laps of practice, the car looked competitive, and by the time Sprint Qualifying came around, Norris topped the SQ1 session on the Medium compound with Piastri third.

Under Sprint Qualifying regulations, only Medium tyres were used in the first two segments, with a single set allocated for SQ1 and one for SQ2. The ten fastest drivers then switched to a set of Softs for SQ3. Before that final session, there was a close battle for the last places in the top ten, with both Audi drivers running Pierre Gasly tight. The Frenchman held on, pushing Gabriel Bortoleto back to 11th and Nico Hulkenberg to 12th on the Sprint grid.

Norris was rewarded with the Pirelli Sprint Qualifying Award, presented by Pirelli Motorsport Director Dario Marrafuschi.

Upgrades Give Norris The Confidence To Push

Norris said the upgrades gave the team a clear step forward from the moment the car hit the track.

“We came into this weekend having put a lot of hard work into these upgrades, but you can never be certain what to expect until the car is on the track,” Norris said. “I’m incredibly happy for the whole team because, from the very first lap, it felt like we had taken a step forward. It gave me the confidence I’ve been looking for, allowing me to really push and exploit its potential straight away.

“It’s a great start, and it feels good to be right in the mix, but we’re keeping our feet on the ground. It was incredibly close out there with several teams looking quick, and we know there are still plenty of unknowns, especially when it comes to race pace. We are still learning how to get the most out of this new package, but we’ve started as well as we could have asked for. For now, I’m happy with what we’ve achieved, and we will focus on making further improvements ahead of the Sprint and Grand Prix Qualifying tomorrow.”

Pirelli Sees Encouraging Signs From Extended Practice

The extended 90-minute FP1 session gave teams far more running than the standard one-hour format allows, and Pirelli’s Chief Engineer Simone Berra said the extra time proved valuable for data gathering across all three compounds available this weekend.

“Today’s free practice session felt like a real step back in time,” Berra said. “The extension to 90 minutes allowed us to gather a large amount of data over meaningful mileage that would not normally be covered in a standard one-hour session. The most widely used compound was the Hard, the most suitable for the analysis work carried out today on power units and aerodynamic updates. The information gathered in Miami will also be useful for the upcoming rounds, as the C3 is the compound that appears most frequently in race weekend selections.

“The laps completed on the Medium and Soft tyres, on the other hand, made it possible to identify the performance delta between the three compounds, which was quantified at around half a second, in line with simulation expectations. Track conditions are not yet optimal, as shown by a few lock-ups into Turn 1, but they will improve progressively through to Sunday. Today the degradation observed was limited and purely thermal in nature, due to record-high track temperatures.

“It is interesting to note that in Sprint Qualifying there is only a 1.4-second gap compared to last year’s best time. With this new generation of cars, the gains achieved through the Miami corners taken with the DRS closed clearly seem to compensate for the lower straight-line speeds.”

What Comes Next

Saturday brings the Sprint race itself followed by Grand Prix Qualifying. McLaren heads into both sessions with its upgraded car looking competitive at the front of the field, but the team acknowledged that race pace remains an unknown. The data gathered across Friday’s extended practice will feed directly into setup decisions for the rest of the weekend, with tyre degradation and track evolution both expected to play a larger role as conditions improve through to Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Formula 2

Kush Maini claimed pole position today in the Miami qualifying session. The ART Grand Prix driver was quicker than second-placed Rafael Câmara and Martinius Stenshorne. The American crowd witnessed a Formula 2 qualifying session of the very highest standard, with the top 21 drivers covered by less than one second. An intriguing Saturday lies ahead in Miami, when the F2 drivers will return to the track for the Sprint Race.

The compounds selected for the weekend are Medium and Supersoft, with a step between the two options. This very difference could prompt some teams to consider starting Sunday’s Feature Race on the Supersoft, in order to gain an early advantage.

The softer compound will clearly suffer from higher degradation, unlike the Medium, which should deliver more consistent performance over a longer stint. Miami has also accustomed us to sudden changes in weather conditions.

Should temperatures be cooler, for example after a downpour, drivers may need to pay closer attention to warming up the yellow-marked tyre, while stints on the Supersoft could be extended by a few laps. However, the latter may be prone to graining, a phenomenon that drivers could manage to limit through careful pace management.

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Written by

Jarrod Partridge

Jarrod Partridge is the Co-Founder of F1 Chronicle and an FIA accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following Formula 1. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered F1 races at circuits around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every race report, driver profile, and technical analysis he writes.

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