Miami has marked Formula 1’s return after an extended break in the calendar, following the cancellation of the two Middle Eastern rounds. After Friday’s sole practice session, it was the McLaren Formula 1 Team duo of reigning World Champion Lando Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri who impressed, finishing the 2026 Miami GP Sprint Qualifying session in P1 and P3 respectively.
Speaking to the media following Sprint Qualifying, both drivers were pleased with their performances and credited the team’s latest upgrades, alongside improvements to the overall feel of the car compared to the previous round in Japan.
Norris happy with the step forward McLaren has taken over the break
Norris finished the session the only driver to make it into the 1.27s, with a time of 1:27.869 in Q3. He spoke about the confidence from the upgraded package, as well as the expectations for the weekend so far.
“I feel very good. I mean, I’m very happy for the team, of course,” he said. “There’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. I felt a little bit more like last year, with just having some confidence in the car.”
Norris explained that the step forward was noticeable immediately and allowed him to push throughout the day.
“I felt that, and I feel like I’ve 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.”
A close battle between the top teams
Although McLaren looked strong, Norris admitted the competition remains incredibly tight between the leading teams at the 2026 F1 Miami GP. Featuring in SQ3 were the likes of both Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, which Norris likened back to the battles last year where it could go anyone’s way.
“I mean, just by the end of FP1, honestly, it was just close between a lot of people. You know, Red Bull seemed quick, Ferrari seemed quick, Mercedes seemed quick. So, it seemed like, yeah, the old days when it was just four teams, and it could be any of them in a way.”
The Briton felt McLaren made another step once qualifying began, particularly as conditions evolved into the evening session.
“But we seemed to take a good little step forward into quali. And especially Q1, I just felt confident. But it was still close, you know, it wasn’t like I was P1. So, I felt good confidence, and I knew if I just put together a good last lap, that we would be up there.”
Despite his advantage at the top, Norris admitted he was still surprised by the final margin to the rest of the field.
“But I was a bit more surprised by the gap still. A lot of good things, a lot of positives, very happy for the team. Like I said, it’s nice to reward them with something so quickly. So, it is just a sprint quali. So, nothing to be overly proud of in some ways, but still a long weekend ahead of us.”
The 2026 F1 Miami Sprint Race
Looking ahead to the Sprint and remainder of the weekend, Norris remained cautiously optimistic, acknowledging there are still many unknowns surrounding the upgraded car package, as well as what the other teams have brought to the table.
“We’ll see,” he said. “It’s hard to know what everyone does in long runs and everything. So, it’s still, like I said, a long weekend, many things can happen. But we started as well as we could have asked for. So, plenty of good things.”
“And if we’re this quick in quali, normally, you’d expect to continue that into long runs. There’s plenty of unknowns yet. It’s still a new car for us. We’re still learning things on the go. We’re still trying to exploit things. And I’m sure we’ll make some improvements into tomorrow qualifying. But for now, I’m happy.”
Piastri interested to see McLaren’s potential at the front
Teammate Oscar Piastri ended Sprint Qualifying in third, with a time of 1:28.091 in Q3, and echoed Norris’ thoughts on the improved performance of the McLaren package at the 2026 F1 Miami GP so far.
“Reasonably happy, obviously. I think the car had great potential today, which was really nice to see. I think it was a bit of a surprise for us on the soft. Ferrari, and especially Charles, looked very strong all day.”
Piastri admitted his final SQ3 lap was not his cleanest, making third place an encouraging outcome.
“My lap in Q3 or SQ3 didn’t feel the best, so to end up third is a good effort, and obviously for Lando is a good result too. I’m happy with the work the team have done, and a little bit more room to improve for myself.”
The Australian believes McLaren has genuine pace to fight throughout the remainder of the weekend, although he expects the competitive picture to continue evolving all the way to the Grand Prix.
“We’ll wait and see. I think the potential is there, yes. We didn’t luck into the result today, so we’ll have to wait and see. I’m expecting Mercedes to still be very strong, but they’ve not looked quite as dominant this weekend so far, so we’ll see if that stays true into tomorrow.”
Piastri also highlighted Ferrari’s pace as one of the surprises of the day, particularly with the upgrades brought by Scuderia Ferrari to Miami.
“Yes, definitely. I think the Ferrari has looked very quick at points this year, and Charles looked very quick all day, so it wasn’t a massive surprise, especially with the amount of upgrades they’ve brought. But yes, I think we all expected Mercedes to still be the benchmark, so let’s wait and see for tomorrow first.”
