- McLaren breaks the Mercedes streak as Norris clinches sprint pole.
- Lando Norris dominates Miami qualifying while Mercedes struggles for pace.
- Competitive upgrades reshape the grid after a month-long racing hiatus.
After a month-long break, the cars are back on track. Evidently, certain teams have made great developments that are positively impacting drivers’ performances and putting pressure on other teams.
One of those teams appears to be McLaren, who have managed to end the Mercedes 1-2 in the Sprint this season, with champ Lando Norris securing pole, followed by Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri.
Norris managed to set up a decent yet competitive lap time by being 0.222s faster than Antonelli. Ahead of the qualifying, the first practice session was dominated by Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Piastri.
Summary of all Miami sprint qualifying sessions
Q1: The drivers set off the first session on mediums. Russell headed to the track first before Antonelli, as Mercedes faced some issues in FP1, affecting their pace. A yellow flag appeared as Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin stopped mid-session after facing a heavy lockout, which got him off the track. After continuing the session briefly, he went to the garage and failed to set a time as Honda issues persist with their cars.
Norris, Colapinto, and Lindblad faced elimination danger initially but managed to come out of the red zone, with the McLaren driver setting the benchmark. Lawson was pushed out of the session with better laps set by Williams. Ferrari showcased a competitive pace, but Mercedes seemed to have lost a bit of their edge.
Eliminated: Bottas, Alonso, Lawson, Ocon, Perez, Stroll
Q2: Leclerc seemed to be the fastest mid-session, followed by Piastri and Hamilton. Mercedes struggled with pace, with both their drivers sandwiching Verstappen in 5th. Norris was held back to set a good lap after he experienced a slight drift, which affected his drive. Bearman tried to set a decent lap, but it wasn’t good enough to secure him a Q3 entry. Both Audis and Lindblad faced the same fate, too. Leclerc’s consistently improved laps secured him a P1.
Eliminated: Bearman, Albon, Sainz, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg, Lindblad
Q3: Norris led the session, with Leclerc and Verstappen slipping into 2nd and 3rd. However, Piastri set a good lap, which modified their placements. Antonelli remained the last to set a lap, who failed to beat Norris, but was quick enough not to let the papaya front-row lockout happen.
Miami Sprint Qualifying final top 10:
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Q3 Time |
| 1 | 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:27.869 |
| 2 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:28.091 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:28.108 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:28.239 |
| 5 | 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 1:28.461 |
| 6 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:28.493 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:28.618 |
| 8 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 1:29.320 |
| 9 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull Racing | 1:29.422 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:29.474 |
