Norris reflects on Miami Sprint pole for McLaren after bouncing back from 'woeful' SQ2

Lando Norris believes claiming Sprint pole ahead of the Miami Grand Prix was a "nice way to reward the team" after McLaren brought a plethora of upgrades for its 2026 challenger.

Norris will line-up first for Saturday's Sprint, after bouncing back from what he described as a "woeful" Q2, with the reigning Formula 1 World Champion claiming top spot in Sprint Qualifying by more than two-tenths from current championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, with a 1m 27.869s.

It marks the first time this season that Mercedes has been beaten in any form of Qualifying session, with McLaren introducing a number of changes to its MCL40 that appear to have paid off.

"[It] was great, perfect result for us," said Norris after hopping out of the car. "[A] nice way to reward the team. We've got a lot of new upgrades on the car so it's nice to feel some grip again and nice to reward the guys and the girls that have put a lot of work into this.

"I've always loved Miami, both on and off the track. It's a good result for us. Of course, just the beginning of the weekend, still a long way to go but nice to kick it off by doing this."

The Miami International Autodrome has been a happy hunting ground for Norris and McLaren, the Briton claiming his first F1 win in 2024 before team mate Oscar Piastri claimed top spot 12 months ago.

"We've known that this track has always been good to us but we knew that what we were bringing was going to hopefully do a good step and it has," added Norris.

"It's nice that our estimations have proved correct and the team deserve that, they put a lot of work into all these things. But since the first lap today, I've felt comfortable, I've got a bit of rear grip and I felt good.

"I've always felt good around here and it's always good to do it. Good to start the weekend with a pole."

When asked how difficult it was to control tyre temperatures during his lap, with track temperatures surpassing 50C on Friday, Norris admitted it had been "pretty tough".

"My Q2 was pretty woeful," he continued. "I was like one second off so it didn't fill me with confidence into the final run and I was debating whether we do one lap or two.

"Will [Joseph] pushed me and said we're doing one lap and it paid off. It's been good work from the whole team, we got everything in a good window straight away so I'm very proud of them. But the lap was good, it was good apart from Turn 16 onto the back straight. Completely missed it.

"Difficult conditions also with the wind, the wind can play a big part. I'm just happy, happy to be back here [as it's] been a little while. [It's the] perfect way for me to start the weekend."

Piastri managed to qualify third behind Norris and Antonelli, and believes that the pace of McLaren is genuine and helped by the warmer conditions in Miami.

"I think the potential is there, yes," he said. "We didn't luck into the result today.

"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. We'll see if that stays true into tomorrow."