Lando Norris took sprint pole at the Miami Grand Prix, posting a 1:27.869 in SQ3 to beat Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli by 0.222 seconds. The result ended Mercedes’ early-season run of poles and put McLaren’s heavily upgraded car back at the front. Norris credited McLaren’s new package with restoring grip, and the session was the first competitive running after a five-week break and the FIA’s mid-season energy-management rule refinement.

Oscar Piastri split the front of the grid by qualifying third, with Charles Leclerc fourth and Max Verstappen fifth in an updated Red Bull. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were sixth and seventh, respectively. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly completed the top ten. Several teams arrived in Miami with major upgrade packages, McLaren running seven upgrades and Ferrari introducing multiple changes, while Mercedes ran a smaller upgrade and said it planned a larger set for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The results underscored a reshuffle in short-run pace ahead of Saturday’s 19-lap Sprint, with McLaren’s development delivering an immediate gain. The weekend also included factors that affected running, including a practice power-unit issue for Mercedes that limited Antonelli’s soft-tire work and problems for Aston Martin that left Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll without representative Sprint laps. Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were left at the back of the Sprint qualifying order.