Lando Norris beats Kimi Antonelli to Sprint pole at the Miami Grand Prix as George Russell struggles

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Lando Norris has taken pole position for the Miami Grand Prix Sprint race ahead of Kimi Antonelli, who managed to split the McLaren drivers.

After a difficult practice session for Mercedes and their power units, the team’s drivers were among the last to head out at the start of SQ1. George Russell had spent the sole practice session reporting unusual turbo noises, while Kimi Antonelli missed out on soft-tyre running at the end of FP1 as Mercedes worked to resolve issues with his power unit.

An early yellow flag disrupted the session when Lance Stroll ran deep into Turn 17 after a heavy lock-up, bringing his Aston Martin to a halt in the run-off area. The incident compromised several flying laps, including those of Lando Norris and both Red Bull drivers.

Stroll was eventually able to reboot his car and rejoin the session, but valuable time had already slipped away. Once the track returned to green, Norris responded with a strong push lap to go fastest, while teammate Oscar Piastri slotted into second, around four tenths adrift.

Leclerc then embarked on a second flying lap but fell just short of claiming the top spot, ending up a mere hundredth of a second behind Norris.

After his earlier Turn 17 issues, Stroll brought his car back to the pit lane, with Aston Martin retiring the car before the Canadian was able to set a time. Fernando Alonso also ran into trouble, finding himself 12 seconds behind Norris at the top and out of SQ1.

Joining both Aston Martins in the elimination zone were the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, although the Mexican driver was brought back into the garage early in the first session which suggested an issue with the MAC-26.

The elimination zone delivered a surprise, with Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson both falling in SQ1. Ocon compromised his final run with a lock-up at Turn 1, while Lawson reported braking problems that limited his performance.

Their early exits were unexpected, given the recent form of Haas and Racing Bulls, who had been in contention for top-10 finishes in previous rounds.

Charles Leclerc out front, Mercedes off the pace… did you see this coming? 👀

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Charles Leclerc tops Miami Grand Prix FP1 as Mercedes struggle with engine issues

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SQ2 got off to a tense start, with Alpine taking a gamble by sending Pierre Gasly out ahead of Max Verstappen as cars queued in the pit lane. The situation quickly escalated as Gasly was waved out in front of the Red Bull before braking abruptly, leaving Verstappen to squeeze through.

Out on track, Charles Leclerc laid down the early marker, with Lewis Hamilton close behind. Oscar Piastri then wedged himself between the Ferraris, while his teammate slipped to P7 after clipping the wall at the Turn 14-15 chicane.

Meanwhile, Oliver Bearman endured a disrupted session amid doubts over his SQ1 lap. Liam Lawson waited in the wings should an opportunity arise, but Bearman was eventually released with just three minutes to go, leaving him with a single shot to deliver.

With only one flying lap to rely on, Bearman managed P13 in his Haas, bowing out of Sprint Qualifying along with the Williams pair, both Audis, and Arvid Lindblad.

Alpine delivered an impressive performance to get both cars into the final stage of qualifying, building on their pace from earlier in the day. The team’s upgrades seem to be paying off, putting them at the head of the midfield ahead of Audi.

George Russell and Mercedes were the first to blink when making their way onto the track, with all teams opting to do a one-lap shootout with just 5 minutes of the session remaining.

Russell was followed out by Hamilton and Norris before the rest of the grid trickled out onto the track. Antonelli was the last car to join in SQ3, leaving it to almost the final two minutes before pulling out of the pits.

The gamble didn’t appear to pay off for Russell, who struggled for pace, setting an early benchmark of 1:28.493, with Norris quickly snapping up the position by six tenths of a second.

The Brit remained unbeatable, with Piastri initially joining his teammate on the front row before Antonelli crossed the line to split the McLarens.

Full Miami Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying results

Lando Norris takes pole for the 2026 Miami Sprint, with Kimi Antonelli splitting the McLarens and finishing two tenths behind.