Lando Norris’s 1m27.869s pole position for Saturday’s Sprint in Miami broke a pattern that had held since the season opener. For the first time in 2026, Mercedes was knocked off the top of a competitive session — and the scale of the swing only becomes clear when Friday’s classification is placed next to the Sprint Qualifying held in Shanghai back in March.
In China, George Russell took pole with a 1m31.520s and put 0.621s between his Mercedes and the best McLaren, then driven by Norris. In Miami, the picture flipped: Kimi Antonelli was the closest Mercedes, but 0.222s adrift of the McLaren up front. The team that had set the early-season benchmark is no longer untouchable over a single lap.
The most striking shift, however, comes from Red Bull. Max Verstappen jumped from eighth in China, 1.734s off pole, to fifth in Miami, just 0.592s away. A gain of more than a second relative to the front is the clearest sign that the upgrade package introduced for the Miami International Autodrome has worked. Ferrari also closed the door: Charles Leclerc lines up fourth, 0.370s off pole, against Lewis Hamilton’s 0.641s deficit at the same stage in Shanghai.
Further down the order, Williams pushed Alex Albon into SQ2 — a step they failed to make in China — while Haas went the other way, with Oliver Bearman dropping out of the top ten after starting ninth in Shanghai. Audi, Alpine and Cadillac held their relative positions, while Aston Martin remains anchored at the back, with Fernando Alonso losing his fastest lap to track limits and Lance Stroll setting no time at all after an early off.
The takeaway is straightforward: the championship is no longer a one-team affair. Four squads now look genuinely capable of fighting for the front of the grid, and the comparison below shows where each one stands.
