Lando Norris explained why McLaren’s pace fizzled out in the few hours between the Sprint Race and qualifying for the main F1 event at the 2026 Miami GP.
Across the first two days of the race weekend Miami proved yet again to be a happy hunting ground for McLaren, with Norris securing Sprint pole on Friday and later leading teammate Oscar Piastri to the team’s first 1-2 finish of the 2026 season in the Sprint Race.
However, whatever performance edge McLaren may have had evaporated mere hours later as rivals found extra pace in qualifying, while Norris and Piastri visibly struggled throughout the session.
“Trickier conditions” cost McLaren in qualifying
Norris never really seemed to be in contention for pole throughout the session, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli and a resurgent Max Verstappen trading fastest lap times at the top of the timesheet. Piastri didn’t fare much better on the other side of the McLaren garage, even coming close to being eliminated early on into qualifying. Antonelli ultimately claimed pole, while Norris and Piastri had to settle for fourth and seventh respectively.
Speaking after the session in the print media pen, Norris said, “I think we still did a good job. I think others just did a really bad job yesterday and just did the job they should do today, honestly. So, yeah, not too many complaints.
“I mean, it was certainly a bit trickier with the car today, with the wind and the temperatures. Maybe the car wasn’t working quite as well and I struggled a bit more, for whatever reason.
“But not because we changed anything. It’s just the conditions were a little bit different and the others just did a job that they should do. And I think we are where we deserve to be, honestly.”
Reality check?
Asked whether McLaren’s qualifying struggles were a reality check after such an emphatic start to the 2026 Miami GP weekend, Norris stated that the team simply maximised their performance earlier where rivals failed to do so.
“Yeah, I just, I mean, I don’t think people gave us enough credit for how good of a job we did yesterday,” he said.
“Comparing to the others, we were clearly quicker. And that’s why I was very, very happy with yesterday’s performance and this morning’s performance. That we maximised everything.
“And I mean, I said yesterday already that it was close between the Mercedes. Mercedes around every corner was pretty much just as quick as or quicker than us. They just had some issues.
“Clearly Max and the Red Bull was also very strong as well. So, you know, I’m not surprised. I think as a team we’re surprised. Probably surprised we struggled as much as we did today. But I don’t think in terms of order and pace of the Mercedes we’re surprised at all.”
Deployment issues “screwed” Norris
Pressed on a possible source of McLaren’s qualifying woes, Norris admitted his car experienced problems with deployment, which affected his final run in Miami. Multiple drivers have experienced battery-related setbacks since the start of the 2026 season as under the new regulations electrical power contributes significantly to overall performance.
“We certainly had some more issues with deployment and things like this,” Norris explained.
“I started my final lap with just less deployment for some reason. It just didn’t go to the full pack, so I was screwed from the off. So it was definitely not as clean of a run from ourselves, we need to understand why.
“But I think the temperature is still a bit hotter at this point of the day. And the wind is a little bit different at the same time. The tarmac has been rubbered in a lot more by all the categories and Porsche and things.
“Certain lines that I could do yesterday I couldn’t do today to the same extent. Little things, I think a lot of little things. It’s not like we’re miles off, We’re still, I think, just over two tenths. Maybe more, three tenths. So it’s not like, night and day.
“I think it’s more the others improved. And maybe we struggled a little bit more.”
He added: “But I think in the dry, the pace is not bad. I just don’t think we have the pace of the cars ahead. Yes, I won this morning. And the pace looked stronger because I had clean air. If I was behind, whoever starts in the front wins the race.”
Miami GP 2026 in the wet?
Local weather forecasts have sparked concerns regarding possibly tricky conditions for Sunday’s Grand Prix. F1 has even elected to shift the start time of the race three hours forward in hopes of avoiding the worst of the forecast thunderstorms.
Asked whether he’s feeling apprehensive about a potential rainy Miami GP given the lack of substantial wet running so far in 2026, Norris stated: “I think for all of us, it’s a different track, different conditions, don’t know how wet it’s going to be.
“So it’s going to be a big challenge on race day for everyone to perform, find the limit. And obviously, you can’t afford to make any mistakes. We’re kind of thrown in the deep end. But that’s what we’re here to do. So I look forward to it.”
