Lando Norris becomes the first non-Mercedes driver to take the top spot in any qualifying session this season as he goes fastest in sprint qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix.
SQ1
Aston Martin struggled significantly in SQ1, with each driver seemingly having issues with car, neither of which being able to set an official lap time and finding themselves stuck to the bottom of the grid.
This was Cadillac’s first race in their home nation, but they found themselves as slow as they have already done all season so far, with both Perez and Bottas finding themselves locking out the 10th row of the grid.
Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson were the two more surprising exits in SQ1, with both drivers and their respective cars having been shown to be good enough to be more competitive, though neither man was able to make it through to the next round on pure
ELIMINATED
17. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +0.055
18. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.257
19. Sergio Perez – Cadillac +0.267
20. Valtteri Bottas – Cadillac + 0.838
21. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin NO TIME
22. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin NO TIME
SQ2
There seemed to be some confusion in the pit lane as Liam Lawson appeared to try and get ready to go out on track as a potential track limits violation for either Lindblad or Bearman seemed to be discussed, but nothing would come of it and Lawson would remain eliminated from SQ1.
Bortoleto seemed to be pushing Gasly quite closely to try and make it through to SQ3, being 1 thousandth quicker as he came out of sector 2 on his final lap. However, a poor hairpin towards the end of the lap would lose the Brazilian a bunch of time, and he would ultimately find himself eliminated in 11th place.
ELIMINATED
11. Gabriel Bortoleto – Audi +0.022
12. Nico Hulkenberg – Audi +0.046
13. Oliver Bearman – Haas +0.143
14. Alexander Albon – Williams +0.243
15. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.251
16. Arvid Lindblad – Racing Bulls +0.600
SQ3
George Russell would be the first to set a time in the final part of sprint qualifying, with everyone giving themselves just one shot to try and take sprint pole.
His time wasn’t particularly great, but it was enough to keep ahead of Hamilton by two tenths. Then, Leclerc would smash past Russell to take provisional pole for Ferrari, before that was itself taken by Norris with a blistering time.
Verstappen, Piastri and Antonelli each had reasonable cracks at trying to take the top spot, but none were able to best Norris as he becomes the first non-Mercedes driver this season to take a pole position in any qualifying format.
Sprint Qualifying results
1. Lando Norris – McLaren 1:27.869
2. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.222
3. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.239
4. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.370
5. Max Verstappen – Red Bull +0.592
6. George Russell – Mercedes +0.624
7. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.749
8. Franco Colapinto – Alpine +1.451
9. Isack Hadjar – Red Bull +1.553
10. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +1.605
