Lando Norris secured pole position for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix sprint race in an upgraded McLaren, beating Mercedes' championship-leading Kimi Antonelli by 0.222 seconds in SQ3. Reigning champion Norris set the fastest time of 1:27.869, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri third, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fourth, Red Bull's Max Verstappen fifth, and Mercedes' George Russell sixth after tyre struggles. Russell expressed surprise at rivals' big performance jumps after Mercedes' dominant start to 2026.
The sprint qualifying session at the Miami International Autodrome marked Mercedes' first qualifying defeat of the season. After dominating the opening three rounds with every pole and race win, Mercedes brought only modest updates, while McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull introduced major packages following a month-long break.
Norris topped the single-lap SQ3 shootout, ahead of Antonelli, Piastri, Leclerc, and Verstappen. Russell qualified sixth, 0.624s off pole, ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in seventh, Franco Colapinto eighth, Isack Hadjar ninth, and Pierre Gasly tenth.
Earlier, Leclerc led SQ2 with a 1:28.333 ahead of Piastri, while Norris topped SQ1 by 0.010s over Leclerc, followed by Piastri, Hamilton, Antonelli, and Russell.
The session came after an FIA mid-season rules tweak to curb energy management, though Miami's stop-start layout around Hard Rock Stadium offered limited testing. Non-qualifiers included Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson (14th, brake issues), Arvid Lindblad (15th), Haas' Esteban Ocon (16th), Cadillac's Sergio Perez (19th) and Valtteri Bottas (20th), Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll (no competitive laps), Williams' Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, and Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg.
Russell was candid post-session: "Pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari have made, so that's pretty damn impressive. We knew they'd probably close the gap but they've been quicker than us." He cited personal woes, including overheating tyres in the slow middle sector amid hotter conditions: "My side I have been struggling today, Miami's not a track that I love to be honest, especially with these hotter conditions but it's only sprint qualifying so let's see what tomorrow brings."
Despite sixth place, Russell eyed opportunities: "I'm not in a great starting position... but obviously China was a bit more interesting this year which gives an opportunity to have a bit of a race."
The 19-lap sprint race starts Saturday at noon local time, followed by grand prix qualifying at 4 p.m.
