Before battle commences, an immaculate minute’s silence in memory of Alex Zanardi, 1956-2026.
Audi had a problem with Hülkenberg’s car they thought they had resolved, but now they will have to work frantically to make qualifying in just over five hours’ time. For everyone else, the sprint race is now a dozen minutes away.
When Donald pressed on and asked about the regulations regardless, his manager tried to intervene via speakerphone, and then:
I turn to Norris and underline the importance of the issue. A young representative of the management team in the room with us steps closer to say: “We’re done with time.”
I ask Norris if he can spare the additional 10 minutes I’d been promised. He looks embarrassed and says: “I’m not the boss.”
Norris is the world champion and his management company work for him and, when I protest this, he says: “That’s fine. I’m happy to answer that question.”
“No,” says the representative in the room.
Norris smiles awkwardly as he again says: “I’m not the boss.”
I ask Norris why even such a mild question can’t be addressed. “No, we’re not answering that,” the man adds.
Even Norris looks exasperated as he turns to him and asks: “Why? Say yes.”
When Norris answered anyway, he said: “Yes [Mercedes] can [be caught] and we’re doing our best to make sure it’ll be us who do that.”
And today Norris is on pole, with only one Mercedes in the top five.
What else has been happening while actual racing has been under its Trumpian suspension? Well, inevitably, people have been talking about the regulations, the aftermath of the Bearman crash, and comments such as those of Max Verstappen, who after the Chinese GP said:
“It’s terrible,” he said. “If someone likes this, then you really don’t know what racing is like. Not fun at all. Playing Mario Kart. This is not racing and I would say the same if I would be winning races because I care about the racing product.”
Yet when Lando Norris had a sit-down with our award-winning interviewer Donald McRae, the world champion’s management people tried to silence him on the subjects everyone was talking about.
A few hours earlier I had been sent a message saying that Norris’s management did not want me to ask about his friendship and rivalry with Max Verstappen and George Russell or about the new F1 regulations. Norris has said before that the changes are dangerous and “we’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One, and the nicest to drive, to probably the worst. It sucks.” I push back, saying it is essential to ask Norris a few questions about the regulation shake-up.
And who could possibly disagree?
Ouch. Nico Hülkenberg has flamed out, it seems, and will not make the sprint grid.
Here are those qualifying times in full:
SQ3
1 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren 1:27.869sec
2 Kimi Antonelli (It) Mercedes 1:28.091
3 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:28.108
4 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:28.239
5 Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull 1:28.461
6 George Russell (GB) Mercedes 1:28.493
7 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Ferrari 1:28.618
8 Franco Colapinto (Arg) Alpine 1:29.320
9 Isack Hadjar (Fr) Red Bull 1:29.422
10 Pierre Gasly (Fr) Alpine 1:29.474
SQ2
11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Br) Audi 1:29.994
12 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Audi 1:30.019
13 Oliver Bearman (GB) Haas F1 1:30.116
14 Carlos Sainz Jr (Sp) Williams 1:30.224
*15 Arvid Lindblad (GB) Racing Bulls 1:30.573
SQ1
16 Liam Lawson (NZ) Racing Bulls 1:31.043
17 Esteban Ocon (Fr) Haas F1 1:31.245
18 Sergio Pérez (Mex) Cadillac 1:31.255
19 Alex Albon (Tha) Williams 1:32.322
20 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Cadillac 1:31.826
21 Fernando Alonso (Sp) Aston Martin 1:41.311
22 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin
Why only five drivers out in SQ2 and seven in SQ1? Alex Albon was initially credited with 14th place and allowed into SQ2, but was spotted by Racing Bulls to have infringed track limits. Liam Lawson dashed back to his RB, but it came too late for him to advance; Albon was relegated from 14th to 19th.
*Arvid Lindblad, meanwhile, starts from the pitlane because of a breach of the parc fermé regulations
Welcome back, Formula One. A lot seems to have changed since you were last with us, and we may be about to get the first meaningful confirmation.
When it was announced that the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GP had been cancelled because of Donald Trump’s war with Iran, there was some wild speculation that the unexpected gap in the season could enable the other teams to narrow the advantage with which Mercedes had started the season. The Silver Arrows, remember, had won all three full races in Australia, China and Japan, as well as the sprint race in China, and had locked out the front row in all four qualifying sessions. George Russell had led things off with wins in Melbourne and the Shanghai sprint, only for some misfortune with qualifying for the main Chinese race and with the safety car at Suzuka to help Kimi Antonelli to victories and the lead, by nine points, in the drivers’ championship.
Five weeks after F1 said sayonara to Suzuka, today’s Miami sprint race starts with Lando Norris on pole for McLaren, Antonelli on second only because of a last-gasp surge and Russell down in sixth. Oscar Piastri was third fastest qualifier in the second McLaren but, with Charles Leclerc in fourth for Ferrari and Max Verstappen fifth for Red Bull, four different marques have made the top five. Lewis Hamilton rounds out the top seven in the second Ferrari.
So the numerous upgrades brought to Florida seem to have had an effect, and it’s not just the cars that have had an upgrade. Oscar Bearman’s high-speed crash to avoid the decelerating Franco Colapinto – a state of affairs brought about by the complications of harvesting and utilising electrical energy under the hybrid engine rules – brought to a head concerns about the 2026 regulations. The teams and the FIA got together and announced a number of tweaks, of which more anon.
Qualifying is not racing. Sprint races are not full grands prix – a year ago Hamilton won the Chinese sprint but his only other podium in his first season at Ferrari was third in Miami’s short-form race. But at first glance this is a fresh start.
Lights out for the sprint race at what is noon in Miami, 5pm BST and, er, 2am in Piastri’s native Melbourne time zone. Four hours later, it’s qualifying for Sunday’s main event.
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