George Russell admitted his surprise at Mercedes’ streak of pole positions to start the season being ended by Lando Norris topping Miami Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying for McLaren.Mercedes enjoyed a dominant start to the season, taking pole position and winning each of the first three races of the year, but a five-week gap since the Japanese Grand Prix has allowed rivals to bring upgrades that appeared to have a major impact on the first day of track action in Florida.
Norris took pole ahead of Russell’s team-mate – and the championship leader – Kimi Antonelli, while the Brit was down in sixth, also behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull each brought significant upgrade packages to Miami, while Mercedes only brought a couple of new parts as they wait for the Canadian Grand Prix later in May to bring a major package.”Pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari made. That’s pretty damn impressive,” said Russell. “We knew they had probably closed the gap but all day they were quicker than us.
“From my side, I’ve been struggling. Miami is not a track I love, especially in those hotter conditions but it’s only Sprint Qualifying, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
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Ted Kravitz takes an in-depth look at all the upgrades made by McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari ahead of the Miami GP weekend
Antonelli, who leads Russell at the top of the drivers’ standings after successive wins in China and Japan, appeared to have the edge over his team-mate throughout the day and backed that up with a fine lap at the end of Sprint Qualifying to split the McLarens.
Antonelli said: “It was a pretty messy session. I struggled a lot with the car. On the medium I couldn’t get a good lap in, then on the soft, all of a sudden, the car came alive.”I think there was a bit left on the table. Despite everything, it was a decent result and with the team we did a great job to recover. Definitely we will dig deep tonight to see what we can do better in order to be faster.”
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2026-05-01 23:54:00
