MIAMI.- The British pilot Lando Norris (McLaren) took first place on the grid this Friday for the sprint race of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prixin a qualifying session in which the Argentine shone Franco Colapinto.
Norris, current world champion, beat the young Italian by 222 thousandths of a second Kimi Antonelli (mercedes), leader of the championship in 2026.
“It’s a fantastic result for us. We have brought improvements to the car this weekend and that rewards the team’s enormous work,” said Norris.
The Briton, who celebrated his first Formula 1 victory on this circuit in 2024, needs to make up ground on Antonelli as the season resumes after a month-long break due to the war in Middle East.
“I’ve always liked Miami, on and off the track. It’s a great start to the weekend,” congratulated Norris, who occupies fifth position in the championship, 47 points behind Antonelli.
This was the first classification of the season in which the pole position did not fall into the hands of Mercedes.
Between Antonelli and the British George Russellwhich holds second place in the Worldall three have won Grand Prix (Australia, China and Japan) and the sprint (China) in dispute.
Russell could only finish in sixth place in Friday’s classification, also behind the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull).
Colapinto’s best result
The great sensation of the classification, however, was the performance of the Argentine Colapinto, who sneaked into the third phase of the session.
The pilot of Alpine He achieved an eighth place for Saturday’s race, thus equaling his best result in a qualy.
Colapinto also finished ahead of his teammate, the Frenchman Pierre Gaslywhich was tenth.
“I’m happy. I think we’re finally starting to get into the rhythm and understand a little what we were missing,” said Colapinto. “It was a good break to be able to reset, start again and understand what we had to work on.”
“I am satisfied with today’s performance, but of course it is only the beginning of the week and there is still more to come,” he stressed.
The Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) finished in eleventh place and the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Williams) in the fifteenth.
The Mexican Sergio Perez He was eliminated in the first part of the classification and will start from nineteenth place in the debut of his new team, cadillacon US territory.
The Spanish Fernando Alonso and his Canadian companion Lance Stroll will start from the last positions after another catastrophic day of Aston Martin.
Unique trials
The action started on Friday in the Miami International Speedway under overwhelming heat of up to 32 degrees in the shade and 58 on the track.
Before qualifying for the sprint, Leclerc set the best time of the first and only free practice session, ahead of Verstappen and Piastri.
Antonelli, the youngest leader in Formula 1 history at 19, missed the end of the session due to an “engine problem,” according to Mercedes.
Due to the sprint race, this was the only free practice session of the weekend and was extended from 60 to 90 minutes to allow the drivers to adapt to the technical regulation adjustments that come into effect in Miami.
The modifications were agreed during the forced five-week pause caused by the cancellation of testing. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia because of the war in the Middle East.
Figures like Verstappen had expressed their frustration with the new cars, with a half electric and half thermal engine, introduced this year to encourage overtaking and spectacle in general.
The new version of the technical regulations aims to reduce the management of electrical energy by pilots and improve their safety.
