Oscar Piastri third for Miami Sprint Race and Lando Norris on pole

Lando Norris qualified fastest for Saturday’s sprint race. (Getty Images: Peter Fox)

Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris has taken pole position for the Miami Grand Prix sprint race, with Mercedes’s Kimi Antonelli second fastest to deny McLaren a one-two on the starting grid.

Norris lapped the Hard Rock Stadium with a best time of one minute 27.869 seconds, beating last year’s sprint pole sitter and current title leader by 0.222.

“It was great. Perfect result and a nice way to reward the team,” Norris said on track.

“We’ve got a lot of new upgrades on the car. It’s nice to feel some grip again.

“It’s nice to reward the guys and the girls who have put a lot of work into it.

“It’s a good result for us, but it’s still the beginning of the weekend. [There is] still a long way to go, but it’s nice to kick it off by doing this.”

Norris is the first driver to deny Mercedes the top spot in a qualifying race this season.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri will line up third, just 0.017 seconds behind Antonelli.

Oscar Piastri (left) was just pipped for a spot on the front row. (Getty Images: Formula 1/Mark Sutton)

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start alongside the Australian on the second row for the 19-lap race on Saturday, local time.

Max Verstappen pipped George Russell to fifth, with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferarri set to start sixth.

“Pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari made. That’s pretty damn impressive,” Russell, who won the season opener in Australia, said.

“From my side, I’ve been struggling. Miami is not a track I love, especially in those hotter conditions but it’s only Sprint Qualifying, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

Franco Colapinto, Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly round out the top 10.

There has been no racing in F1 since the Japanese Grand Prix in March, with the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races called off due to the Iran war.

Piastri had just found his feet in Japan after a nightmare start to the year, having failed to make the starting grid in Melbourne and Shanghai.

In Suzuka, the 25-year-old burst from the blocks and finished runner-up to Mercedes ace Kimi Antonelli.

Norris said although he expected his McLaren to work nicely on the track, the upgrades for this weekend had clearly worked.

McLaren brought a major upgrade package to this race, as did most other teams on the grid, although Mercedes did not.

“We’ve known that this track has always been good to us but we knew that what we were bringing was hopefully going to be a good step, so it’s nice that our estimations have proved correct,” Norris said.

“Since the first lap today, I’ve felt comfortable and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got a bit of rear grip.’

“[It’s] good to start the weekend with a pole.”

The main grand prix, the fourth round of the season, is on Sunday (Monday morning AEST).