After their one-two finish in the Sprint, McLaren fell back into line a bit in qualifying: "Where we deserve to be"

After a month's break, the return of the Formula 1 The Miami track's run seemed to coincide with the team's return to business. McLaren. Reigning world champion, Lando Norris seized pole position for the sprint race before dominating the race on Saturday morning. The Briton finished ahead of his teammate Oscar piastriwho kept at a distance Classic Ferrari for sale de Charles LeclercThe indicators were therefore all green for the Woking team before qualifying, three hours later.

In contention but unable to replicate Saturday's performances, Norris and Piastri ultimately qualified fourth and seventh respectively. For the British driver, there's no need to panic, as qualifying simply reflects a constantly shifting hierarchy, and McLaren had already managed to find a good setup during Friday's single free practice session at the Miami International Autodrome.

"For us, it's still a step forward."he tempered on Canal+ microphones. “Everyone did a bad job on Friday, we did a good job, on Saturday everyone did a good job and we weren’t fast enough. I think that’s where we deserve to be. We’ll see on Sunday, my sprint race was very easy because I was in front, and that won’t be the case on Sunday, but it will surely be a wet race, so we’ll see.”

On the other side of the garage, Oscar Piastri felt he hadn't had the qualifying session he'd hoped for, but also that Lando Norris could have, on paper, been even closer to the front. With four different cars in the top four positions, the field is certainly much more diverse than in the first three rounds of the season.

“We knew it was going to be close. Antonelli’s lap is closer to what we expected from him.” Mercedes Benz"To be honest.", explained Piastri. “Lando was pretty close to second or third place, while for me the session wasn't very clean. A number of things didn't go as we had hoped. It was a tricky session, with the car too, in really difficult conditions, especially with the wind and the heat. I think we did a good job on Friday getting the car into the right window fairly quickly. It didn't really behave any differently today; I think the competition just managed to put everything together. It's not a huge surprise, it's a return to reality, but I think there are also things we can do better on our end.”

The team principal of the British team, Andrea Stella, corroborated the statements of his two drivers: “With all the cars so closely matched, it’s no coincidence that the gap to pole position is the smallest it’s been this season. With four different cars occupying the top four positions, it’s the smallest details of execution that will make the difference in gaining or losing places. Our session wasn’t perfect, and others fared better, the opposite of Friday’s situation. We remain confident in our ability to climb back up the order and fight for the top spots on Sunday, in what could be a very eventful race given the current weather forecast. Once again, execution will be crucial, and all our energy is now focused on our optimal preparation for tomorrow.”

The Miami Grand Prix is ​​expected to be disrupted by weather conditions, with the start time brought forward by three hours due to a high risk of thunderstorms. The race will begin at 19 p.m. Paris time this Sunday.

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