Miami (AFP) – World champion Lando Norris beamed in the Florida sunshine Friday after steering his upgraded McLaren to pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix. The 26-year-old Briton made the most of the extensive upgrades on his car to outpace Mercedes’ Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli, at 19 the youngest man to lead the drivers’ championship in F1 history, and end Mercedes’ early season domination.
“I’ve always loved Miami, both on and off the track,” said Norris, who claimed his maiden F1 triumph at the compact circuit built around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens in 2024. “And this is a good result for us, but still only at the beginning of the weekend. There’s still a long way to go, but it’s nice to kick off by doing this. We’ve got a lot of new upgrades on the car and it is nice to feel some grip again — and nice to reward the guys and girls who have put a lot of work into this.”
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Asked if he felt this indicated that the defending constructors’ champions had regained the initiative from McLaren, Norris was cautious. “It’s so tough to know because every track is different. We’ve known that this track has always been good to us, but we knew that what we were bringing was hopefully going to be a good step so it’s nice that our estimations have proved to be correct. The team deserve that… Since the first lap today, I felt very comfortable and I thought I had a bit of rear grip, so it is good to start with pole.”
McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, who won last year’s race, was a close third ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, four-time Max Verstappen of Red Bull, and early season leader George Russell of Mercedes. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh in the second Ferrari, the Italian team along with Red Bull having brought major upgrade packages to the Miami race.
It was the first time this year that Mercedes had been outpaced in a qualifying session, after three races run before the five-week hiatus due to the conflict in the Middle East. A disappointed Russell said: “I think it is pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari have made. It’s much bigger than we expected, even if this has never been a favourite circuit for me.” He added that he had struggled with overheating tyres and other problems throughout Friday.
Verstappen was also disappointed, but realistic and said he could see the positives in Red Bull’s improved performance thanks to their upgrades, but added that the team were still “very weak” in the high-speed section of the track. “We need to work on that,” he said, a comment repeated by Ferrari’s Hamilton, who said he had hoped Ferrari’s extensive upgrade package would have delivered greater rewards.
© 2024 AFP
