Lando Norris, the reigning world champion, broke Mercedes' early‑season streak by clinching pole position for the Sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix, marking the first non‑Mercedes pole of the 2026 campaign. Norris achieved the feat in McLaren’s freshly upgraded MCL40, posting a best lap of 1:27.869 on the Miami International Autodrome and putting the British driver at the front of the grid for Saturday's sprint showdown. The Miami event was the first race after a five‑week hiatus, and the usual Mercedes‑led hierarchy that had characterised the opening three rounds in March was dramatically reshuffled. All of the front‑running teams introduced a range of aerodynamic and power‑unit upgrades, but McLaren’s package proved the most effective, allowing Norris to out‑pace the competition in the final qualifying session.
Norris, who has yet to finish higher than fourth in either a Sprint or a full Grand Prix during his current title defence, delivered the fastest lap in the decisive SQ3 segment, earning his first pole of the year. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli, driving for Mercedes, took second place, just two‑tenths of a second off Norris’s benchmark. George Russell, Antonelli’s teammate, struggled throughout the session and could only manage sixth on the grid. Mercedes entered Miami with a relatively modest set of upgrades compared with the extensive work carried out by McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull.
The German team plans to roll out a larger upgrade package at the next round in Canada, but the performance gap that opened up at Miami was striking. "It was pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari made. That's pretty damn impressive," Russell admitted after the session. "We knew they had probably closed the gap but all day they were quicker than us." Oscar Piastri completed the podium, finishing third and underscoring McLaren’s resurgence.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had topped the sole practice session and led SQ2, settled for fourth after a strong showing in the SF‑26, a car fitted with eleven different upgrades for the weekend. Max Verstappen of Red Bull moved up to fifth, indicating that the Dutchman’s team had also benefitted from recent upgrades.
Lewis Hamilton, now driving for Ferrari, recorded a seventh‑place time, while his teammate, also in a Ferrari, trailed Leclerc by roughly three‑tenths of a second throughout the day. Red Bull’s progress was evident as they escaped the midfield positions they occupied in the previous races in China and Japan.
Verstappen’s teammate, Isack Hadjar, was 0.8 seconds slower than the Dutch driver and finished ninth, sandwiched between Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly. Aston Martin were the only team that did not bring any aerodynamic updates to Miami, and despite Honda’s efforts to resolve vibration issues in their power unit, the team remained at the back of the field. Lance Stroll failed to set a time after an early spin sent him into the runoff area, and Fernando Alonso’s 21st‑fastest lap was an unrepresentative ten seconds slower than the Cadillacs that qualified directly ahead of him. The final top‑ten order was as follows: 1) Lando Norris (McLaren), 2) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), 3) Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 4) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 5) Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 6) George Russell (Mercedes), 7) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 8) Franco Colapinto (Alpine), 9) Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), 10) Pierre Gasly (Alpine).
McLaren’s performance in Miami suggests that the team, which secured back‑to‑back constructors' championships in recent seasons, is finally mastering the new regulatory era that began last year. Their heavily upgraded MCL40 appears to have closed the gap that left them trailing at Suzuka, where Piastri had finished second to Antonelli. Norris, who won his maiden Grand Prix in Miami two years earlier, described his pole‑winning lap as a turning point.
"I feel very good. I'm very happy for the team," he said. "It's always a lot of expectations.
A lot of work has gone into trying to bring these upgrades and it's always just difficult to anticipate or to know what to expect coming into a new weekend. But since lap one, literally, turn one, everything felt better.
It felt a little bit more like last year with just having some confidence in the car. I felt like I exploited that through the whole day today.
So, a nice start to the weekend. Probably better than we were expecting, honestly. We were expecting better of course but we didn't know in terms of quantity how it was going to be.
So, a little surprise, but a pleasant one for sure." The weekend schedule featured a packed programme: on Saturday, May 2, the F2 Sprint began at 2.55 pm, followed by the Miami GP Sprint at 4 pm, Ted’s Sprint Notebook at 6.30 pm, and the qualifying build‑up at 8 pm, culminating in the Sprint qualifying session at 9 pm. The following day, Sunday, May 3, saw the F2 Feature Race at 5.25 pm, the Grand Prix build‑up at 7 pm, the main race at 9 pm, and post‑race analysis throughout the evening. All events were broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and could be streamed via NOW without a contract, offering fans a flexible way to follow the action.
Overall, Norris’s pole position not only disrupted Mercedes’ early dominance but also highlighted the rapid pace of development across the grid as teams adapt to the 2026 regulations. McLaren’s upgrade strategy, Ferrari’s extensive package of eleven upgrades, and Red Bull’s steady improvements all point to a fiercely competitive season ahead, with the next round in Canada promising further surprises as the title fight intensifies.