Lando Norris feels “more like last year” with McLaren F1 car confidence

In Miami GP sprint qualifying, Norris was the first driver to break up Mercedes’ run of poles in the 2026 Formula 1 season

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Reigning world champion Lando Norris’ Formula 1 title defence may not be up and running just yet, but a first batch of McLaren car upgrades helped deliver his first sprint pole of the season and a chance to reconnect with his the confidence he enjoyed late in 2025.

Norris was the first driver to bump a Mercedes off pole this season, putting two tenths on championship leader Kimi Antonelli in what turned into a one-lap qualifying shootout at the Miami International Autodrome. Oscar Piastri made it a McLaren 1-3 with the second Mercedes of George Russell only a distant sixth.

The result was a hazy mixture of McLaren trotting its upgrades out before Mercedes, while the Silver Arrows left time on the table with overheating tyres and an inferior energy deployment strategy compared to the customer team.

But what’s at least as significant for Norris is that he has regained the late 2025 confidence in his machinery that fuelled his run to his maiden world championship, after struggling in qualifying at the start of the 2026 campaign.

“A lot of work has gone into trying to bring these upgrades, and it’s always just difficult to anticipate or to know what to expect coming into a new weekend,” Norris said. “But since lap one, literally, turn one, everything felt better. I felt a little bit more like last year, with just having some confidence in the car.

“I feel like I’ve exploited that through the whole day today, so it’s a nice start to the weekend. Probably better than we were expecting, honestly. We were expecting better, of course, but we didn’t know, in terms of quantity, how it was going to be. So, a little surprise, but a pleasant one for sure.”
Norris was less certain about his long run pace, as both Mercedes cars looked superior in Miami’s sole 90-minute practice session, with Ferrari looking to be slightly ahead of McLaren too. After the 19-lap sprint, parc ferme opens again for teams to make set-up changes into grand prix qualifying, giving Mercedes a chance to strike back.

“It is just a sprint qualifying, so nothing to be overly proud of in some ways, but still a long weekend ahead of us, “Norris acknowledged. “It’s hard to know what everyone does in long runs and everything. Many things can happen. But we started as well as we could have asked for. So, plenty of good things.

“If we’re this quick in qualifying, normally you’d expect to continue that into long runs, but there are plenty of unknowns yet. It’s still a new car for us. We’re still learning things on the go. We’re still trying to exploit things. And I’m sure we’ll make some improvements into qualifying.”