McLaren
Norris got a great start from Sprint pole and disappeared up the road, never under much pressure in the clean air. The World Champion recorded his first win of the season by 3.7s from his team mate. Piastri had to work hard to fend off Leclerc into Turn 1, and was kept honest by the Ferrari throughout the Sprint. He was harder on his tyres than his team mate, but he was in dirty air.
After dominating proceedings in the Sprint, the same could not be said for the one-lap shootout. Piastri scraped out of Q1 after a software issue hampered his laps, and then Norris began to struggle. He seemingly was fighting the wind too, and while both made Q3, neither could challenge for the front row in stark contrast to Sprint Qualifying.
Lando Norris, Sprint: 1st, Qualifying: 4th, 1:28.183
“A mixed day for us, with a good Sprint this morning. We got the maximum out of the car yesterday when others didn’t, and in clear air this morning, we were able to control the race pretty easily. This afternoon, our rivals simply delivered the performance they are capable of, and we found ourselves struggling more with the car in the warmer, windier conditions.
“However, P4 is not a bad result, it’s definitely a step forward compared to previous races, and the team still did a good job to get the result we did. We need to go away and analyse the data to fully understand where we lost ground to our competitors today.
“We’ll see what the weather brings tomorrow, it’s looking like it’ll be a wet race, which will be interesting as we’ve never driven these cars in the wet. We’ll do our prep this evening and make sure we’re as ready as we can be for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.”
Oscar Piastri, Sprint: 2nd, Qualifying: 7th, 1:28.500
“A messier Qualifying after a really strong Sprint. We started the day off well, with a great 1-2 for the team, so thank you to them for all the work so far.
“Going into Qualifying, changing wind, hot temperatures, variable track grip, and some unexpected behaviour from the power unit meant a few things didn’t work as we anticipated, especially in Q3, so lots to review. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull seem to have taken a step forward from the Sprint to Qualifying, with lap times much closer to what we were expecting.
“Looking ahead to tomorrow, the predicted weather will make things incredibly interesting, so we will learn what we can overnight and see what’s possible in the race.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
"First of all, I want to use the opportunity to remember Alex Zanardi. A very special man, driver and athlete, a real symbol and example of what it means to love life. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.
“Overall, it’s been a positive weekend so far. We have introduced our first important upgrade to the car, and we’ve seen an improvement in our competitiveness. This is the result of the relentless work of the entire McLaren team in Woking and trackside. It is a promising sign, considering that we will have further upgrades coming in the next race in Montreal and also because it confirms that we are working as a team in the right direction.
“Here in Miami, we have seen the closest pecking order of the season so far, and we have seen how important the execution of every session is. We have optimised our potential yesterday in Sprint Qualifying and then again today in the Sprint Race with a fantastic 1-2 from Lando and Oscar, but it was not as smooth in this afternoon’s Qualifying session.
“With each car close to each other, it is not a coincidence that we have the closest gap from Pole since the beginning of the championship season. With four different cars in the top four positions, it’s just a matter of details in execution to gain or lose positions. We did not have the cleanest session, and others have done a better job, an opposite situation compared to what happened yesterday.
“Despite a slightly challenging Qualifying result of P4 and P7, we remain confident we can build back to be fighting for top positions tomorrow in a race that could become really eventful in the light of the current weather forecast. Once more, execution will be crucial and our energy now is totally focused on preparing ourselves in the best possible way for tomorrow.”
