Norris breaks Mercedes streak with Miami Sprint pole

Lando Norris beat Kimi Antonelli to pole position for the Miami Sprint, breaking Mercedes’s perfect qualifying record for 2026.

Norris had looked in good form throughout practice, and topped SQ1 comfortably, but a messy lap in SQ2 dropped him down the order and appeared to give momentum to his rivals in a closely contested four-team pole battle. The reigning champion fired back with his sole soft-tire lap in SQ3, however, to set the benchmark at 1m27.869s – just 1.387s slower than last year’s Sprint pole time.

His teammate, Oscar Piastri, had looked to have seized the ascendancy in SQ2 and was a close match for Norris in the first sector on his last lap, but his middle sector was fractionally off the pace, and the Australian faded to 0.239s off the pace in what appeared to be a McLaren front-row lockout.

Antonelli, though, joined SQ3 late in a bid to ensure he got the best of the track conditions as the last driver on track. The Italian, who took Sprint pole in Miami last year, set a purple middle sector and was quicker than Norris in the final split, but he couldn’t overcome a slow first sector to take pole. Instead he qualified second, 0.222s off the pace, to split the McLaren drivers.

Norris called the result validation for McLaren’s major upgrade package.

“It was great – perfect result for us,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of new upgrades on the car – It was nice to feel some grip again and nice to reward the guys and girls who put a lot of work into this.

“Since the first lap today I’ve felt comfortable. I felt good. I’ve always felt good around here, and it’s always good to do it. Good to start with a pole.”

Charles Leclerc topped SQ2 with the medium compound but couldn’t back it up on the soft tire in the battle for pole, leaving the Ferrari driver fourth and 0.37s off the pace.

Max Verstappen’s upgraded Red Bull Racing machine was closer to the front, the Dutchman qualifying 0.592s off pole position – enough to qualify one place and 0.032s ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell, who has struggled for pace so far this Miami weekend.

A poor middle sector undid Lewis Hamilton’s lap, leaving him seventh and 0.749s off the pace.

Franco Colapinto was an impressive eighth ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Isack Hadjar and Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly in 10th.

Gabriel Bortoleto missed out on a place in the pole shootout by 0.021s to qualify 11th ahead of Audi teammate Nico Hulkenberg.

Oliver Bearman will start the sprint 13th ahead of Williams teammates Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, who were split by just 0.008s, with Red Bull Racing rookie Arvid Lindblad following in 16th.

Liam Lawson was knocked out 17th, missing out on an SQ2 spot by just 0.055s after losing a lap to a Turn 1 lock-up early in the session, when his tires were in better shape than his last-gasp attempt.

Esteban Ocon was also a victim of a Turn 1 lock-up, leaving him 18th ahead of Cadillac teammates Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.

Aston Martin will lock out the back row of the grid. Fernando Alonso failed to set a representative time, the Spaniard spotted struggling to slow his car into Turn 11, while Lance Stroll didn’t set a time at all after a heavy lock-up into Turn 17 on his first lap that forced him to limp back to pit lane, from where he was unable to rejoin the session.

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