McLaren will be thrilled with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris after starting strongly after a five-week break with the reigning F1 champion starting at pole for the sprint. McLaren used their five-week break between GPs to upgrade their cars in a bid to catch Mercedes and Ferrari in Miami.
And it appears to have paid off with Norris finishing pole for the sprint ahead of Kimi Antonelli. Piastri finished in third. Norris was pleased with his efforts after McLaren used the time to improve their car.
McLaren would be thrilled with Oscar Piastri (pictured right) and Lando Norris’ start. (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
And he put it down to the team with the new upgrades working as planned with the English star becoming the first driver to out qualify Mercedes this season. “Perfect result for us,” Norris said. “Nice way to reward the team. “We’ve got a lot of new upgrades on the car, so it was nice to feel some grip again.
“And a nice reward for the guys and girls who’ve put a lot of work into this. I’ve always loved Miami on and off the track. It’s the beginning of the weekend, so still a long way to go but nice to tick things off by doing this.”
Lando Norris (pictured) was the fastest driver and qualified in pole for the sprint. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)
(Kym Illman via Getty Images)
Piastri admitted there was plenty to come from the car across the weekend and he was looking forward to the improvements. “I’m happy with that,” he said.
“The car had good potential, which was really nice to see. We still have things to improve, but the new package is a good step, so thank you to the whole team for their efforts. Congratulations to Lando as well, we didn’t luck into today’s result, the potential is there.”
George Russell praises McLaren improvements
While Piastri and Norris were happy, George Russell couldn’t believe the improvements coming from their rivals. The English driver is second in the drivers’ championship, but finished sixth for the sprint.
“Pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari made. That’s pretty damn impressive,” Russell said after the practice. “We knew they had probably closed the gap but all day they were quicker than us.”
Norris admitted it wasn’t easy out there, but he managed to turn it around after Q2. “It was pretty tough,” Norris said.
“My Q2 was pretty woeful. I was like one second off. Didn’t fill me with confidence heading into the final round.” McLaren sit third in the constructors’ championship on 46 points. Mercedes lead on 135 ahead of Ferrari on 90.
Oscar Piastri (pictured) feels there is plenty left in the car for the weekend. (Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images)
(Kym Illman via Getty Images)