Norris Leads McLaren to 4th and 7th at F1 Miami Grand Prix
McLaren went from a Sprint win to fourth and seventh in f1 miami grand prix qualifying on Saturday, with Lando Norris taking fourth and Oscar Piastri seventh after a much tougher session. Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the race, a sharp reversal after Norris had started the day by converting Sprint pole into victory.
Norris After Miami Qualifying
Norris said the session was “a much trickier” one for McLaren and added that “Some of that is kind of conditions – it’s still a lot hotter than it was at this point yesterday, and the wind was a little bit different.” He also pointed to the gap between the two sessions, saying, “the weird thing is how much pace we lost from yesterday to today really.”
He finished with the bluntest read on the day: “I think today was probably a little bit more where we should be.” That followed a Saturday in which he had already won the Miami Grand Prix Sprint after taking pole position in Friday Sprint Qualifying.
Piastri Hits Back Down
Piastri called the result a “kick back down to reality” after McLaren’s stronger start earlier in the day. He said, “We knew it was going to be tight” after just getting through to Q2, then described qualifying as “For myself, just a very messy session, and a lot of things didn’t quite work the way we expected or hoped, so some digging to do there.”
His own view of the car matched Norris’s read of the session. “More or less the same the whole way through,” Piastri said, adding, “The car didn’t feel really much different – I think the others just caught up and maximised what they had a lot better.”
Antonelli Takes Pole
The wider field caught McLaren after the Sprint, with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all appearing to be in contention during qualifying. That left Antonelli at the front and McLaren chasing from behind, despite the upgrade package the team brought to Miami.
For McLaren, the day ended with a split result: one driver still in the top four, the other in seventh, and both describing the same basic problem in different words. The Sprint win showed their pace was real; qualifying showed how fast that advantage can disappear when the conditions shift and the margins tighten.
