With the championship returning after a five-week absence caused by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix thanks to the Iran war, 10 of the 11 teams have arrived in Miami with upgrades to their cars.
World champion Lando Norris has appeared to gain the most from McLaren’s seven upgrades, and took his first pole position of the season with a best lap of 1m 27.869s.
Current world championship leader Kimi Antonelli was 0.222s back in second, as Mercedes’ streak of starting on pole in every race this year was broken by McLaren.
Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri was third, 0.239s back, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the second row in fourth, 0.370s off Norris.
Mercedes, though, are expecting upgrades for the Canadian Grand Prix later this month.
But having been among the midfield contenders earlier in the season, Racing Bulls will worry they’ve lost any advantages they might have had over rivals Williams, Alpine, Audi and Haas.
Lawson’s Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad will start one place higher, after appearing to have issues with his car in SQ2.
In last year’s Miami sprint, Lawson qualified 14th and crossed the line seventh in wet conditions, only to be stripped of the result after a penalty for forcing Fernando Alonso into the barriers at turn 12 relegated him to 13th.
Taking to the track in the opening session, Lawson’s first lap was compromised by a yellow flag when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll ran wide at turn 16.
Lawson’s woes were compounded when he ran too deep into turn one, locked up his front wheel, and effectively wiped out a set of medium tyres, and left himself with one chance to advance into the second session.
With just over three minutes left on the clock, Lawson returned to the track, and was able to post his first time, 1m 31.043s. However the lack of opportunity to improve led to him being overtaken, and he was the final car to be eliminated in the first session, 0.055s back from Albon and 0.171s off his teammate.
Miami’s sprint race begins at 4am on Sunday (NZT), before grand prix qualifying at 8am.
Earlier, Lawson logged a trouble-free 41 laps in the weekend’s only practice session – extended by 30 minutes for teams and drivers to come to terms with their car upgrades after the five-week break. No driver completed more laps in the session than Lawson.
The Kiwi’s best lap of 1m 31.648s was 2.338s back from Leclerc’s session-topping time, 1m 29.310s, and he recorded the 17th-fastest time of the session.
Lawson being so far down the leaderboard came with mitigation, after he did not run a set of soft tyres, the fastest compound, with his best effort instead coming on mediums.
Neither Racing Bulls cars ran softs, as Lindblad finished 21st, 1.214s back from his teammate.
Miami sprint race starting grid
Lando Norris – McLarenKimi Antonelli – MercedesOscar Piastri – McLarenCharles Leclerc – FerrariMax Verstappen – Red BullGeorge Russell – MercedesLewis Hamilton – FerrariFranco Colapinto – AlpineIsack Hadjar – Red BullPierre Gasly – AlpineGabriel Bortoleto – AudiNico Hulkenberg – AudiOllie Bearman – HaasAlex Albon – WilliamsCarlos Sainz – WilliamsArvid Lindblad – Racing BullsLiam Lawson – Racing BullsEsteban Ocon – HaasSergio Perez – CadillacValtteri Bottas- CadillacFernando Alonso – Aston MartinLance Stroll – Aston Martin
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.