Miami (AFP) – World champion Lando Norris ended Mercedes’ early-season supremacy by steering his upgraded McLaren to pole position on Friday for Saturday’s sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix. The 26-year-old Briton outpaced championship-leading Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli, in his Mercedes, by 0.222 seconds, with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri third, adrift by a further 0.239 seconds. The two McLarens, equipped with a successful upgrade package during F1’s five-week hiatus due to the conflict in the Middle East, shone in the Florida heat to finish ahead of their main rivals.
“It was great, a perfect result for us and a nice way to reward the team,” said Norris. “We’ve got some new upgrades so it’s nice for me to feel some grip again. We’ve known that this track has always been good for us. But we knew, too, that what we were bringing would make a good step and it has and our estimations have been correct.”
Related news
It was the first time this year that Mercedes had been outqualified after dominating the three previous Grands Prix. Ferrari also impressed, but were less competitive than they had been earlier in practice with their heavily revised car. Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari ahead of a revitalised four-time champion Max Verstappen in his revised Red Bull, Mercedes’ George Russell, and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari. Franco Colapinto was eighth for an improved Alpine ahead of Isack Hadjar in the second Red Bull and Pierre Gasly in the second Alpine.
In hot conditions in the Sunshine State, Valtteri Bottas led out in his Cadillac with all 22 cars joining the fray immediately at the Miami International Autodrome. Leclerc, who was quickest in practice earlier, was soon on top ahead of Antonelli by 0.022 with Hamilton third, three-tenths adrift ahead of Verstappen and Gasly. Russell struggled to keep pace before Norris and Piastri grabbed the initiative. Norris, clearly in the mood, clocked 1:28.723 to top Piastri by four-tenths until Leclerc split the two McLarens ahead of Hamilton and the Mercedes pair, leaving Verstappen down in seventh in SQ1.
The first action saw the expected elimination of both Aston Martins and both Cadillacs along with Haas’s Esteban Ocon and the luckless Liam Lawson in his lemon-liveried Racing Bulls. SQ2 began with another fast lap from Leclerc, confirming the success of Ferrari’s upgrades, and Piastri, this time dividing him from Hamilton, the McLaren only 0.036 adrift of Leclerc’s pace. Russell was fourth and Verstappen fifth ahead of championship leader Antonelli and world champion Norris, as both Audis missed the cut to reach the top 10 along with Oliver Bearman’s Haas, the two Williams, and Arvid Lindblad in the second Racing Bulls’ car.
After the two runs on mediums, the SQ3 shootout between the top three teams made a slow start on softs, reducing the action to one fast lap each for pole. Russell went first but could not deliver the pace to maintain Mercedes’ run of qualifying domination this year as he wound up sixth, six-tenths adrift of fastest man Norris, whose upgraded McLaren took him to pole in 1:27.869. Antonelli made a valiant late effort to beat him but settled for second, with Piastri third and Leclerc fourth ahead of Verstappen, Russell, and Hamilton.
© 2024 AFP
