MIAMI: World champion Lando Norris beamed in the Florida sunshine Friday after steering his upgraded McLaren to pole position for Saturday&#39;s sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix.&nbsp;The 26-year-old Briton made the most of the extensive upgrades on his car to outpace Mercedes&#39; Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli, at 19 the youngest man to lead the drivers&#39; championship in F1 history, and end Mercedes&#39; early season domination.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;ve always loved Miami, both on and off the track,&quot; said Norris, who claimed his maiden F1 triumph at the compact circuit built around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens in 2024. &quot;And this is a good result for us, but still only at the beginning of the weekend.&nbsp;&quot;There&#39;s still a long way to go, but it&#39;s nice to kick off by doing this. We&#39;ve got a lot of new upgrades on the car and it is nice to feel some grip again -- and nice to reward the guys and girls who have put a lot of work into this.&quot;&nbsp;Asked if he felt this indicated that the defending constructors&#39; champions had regained the initiative from McLaren, Norris was cautious.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s so tough to know because every track is different. We&#39;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&#39;s nice that our estimations have proved to be correct.&nbsp;&quot;The team deserve that... Since the first lap today, I felt very comfortable and I thought I had a bit of rear grip, so it is good to start with pole.&quot;&nbsp;McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, who won last year&#39;s race, was a close third ahead of Ferrari&#39;s Charles Leclerc, four-time Max Verstappen of Red Bull and early season leader George Russell of Mercedes.&nbsp;Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh in the second Ferrari, the Italian team along with Red Bull having brought major upgrade packages to the Miami race.&nbsp;It was the first time this year that Mercedes had been outpaced in a qualifying session, after three races run before the five-week hiatus due to the conflict in the Middle East.&nbsp;A disappointed Russell said: &quot;I think it is pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari have made. It&#39;s much bigger than we expected, even if this has never been a favorite circuit for me.&quot;&nbsp;He added that he had struggled with overheating tyres and other problems throughout Friday.&nbsp;Verstappen was also disappointed, but realistic and said he could see the positives in Red Bull&#39;s improved performance thanks to their upgrades, but added that the team were still &quot;very weak&quot; in the high-speed section of the track.&nbsp;&quot;We need to work on that,&quot; he said, a comment repeated by Ferrari&#39;s Hamilton, who said he had hoped Ferrari&#39;s extensive upgrade package would have delivered greater rewards.

Racing

Lando Norris takes pole for the Miami Grand Prix sprint, using McLaren upgrades to beat Kimi Antonelli and end Mercedes’ dominance. Oscar Piastri is third, while rivals Ferrari and Red Bull show improvement but face performance challenges.

Joy for Norris in Miami as McLaren end Mercedes run

DOHA: Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday to set up a final race title showdown with McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.&nbsp;The Red Bull driver kept the wheels on his quest for a fifth successive crown after pole-sitter Piastri finished second and standings leader Norris came only fourth.&nbsp;Verstappen&#39;s remarkable late season surge has lifted him past Piastri and into second in the championship.&nbsp;The Dutchman now goes into the season-closer next weekend only 12 points behind Norris with Piastri 16 points behind his teammate.&nbsp;Verstappen has fond memories of the last time the title went down to the wire when he beat Lewis Hamilton on the last lap of the last race in Abu Dhabi in 2021.&nbsp;This was a race McLaren should have won, with Piastri heading the grid and Norris alongside him on the front row, only to be overtaken by Verstappen at the start.&nbsp;Red Bull pitted Verstappen under a safety car, unlike McLaren who kept their two drivers out on the track.&nbsp;&quot;Clearly we did not get it right tonight,&quot; conceded Piastri.&nbsp;&quot;I drove as fast as I could but it wasn&#39;t to be. In hindsight it is pretty obvious what we should have done, but we&#39;ll discuss that as a team. (It&#39;s) a little bit tough to swallow at the moment,&quot; the Australian added.&nbsp;Verstappen said: &quot;An incredible race for us, we made the right call to box under that safety car. A strong race for us on a weekend that was tough.&quot;&nbsp;Carlos Sainz of Williams completed the podium under floodlights at the Lusail International Circuit in the Doha desert.

Max Verstappen won the Qatar GP, boosting his late-season comeback and setting up a final-race title fight with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. A strategic call under the safety car secured victory, while McLaren admitted tactical mistakes.

Verstappen wins Qatar GP to set up final race title showdown

AUSTIN: Red Bull&#39;s Max Verstappen cruised to an easy victory Saturday in a crash-filled United States Grand Prix sprint race that saw McLaren teammates and championship leaders Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both knocked out in the first turn when their cars collided.&nbsp;The loss of both McLaren cars early that could have a huge impact on the season championship as McLaren mechanics now face the challenge of fixing both cars before qualifying for the main event.&nbsp;Verstappen started Saturday&rsquo;s sprint on pole with Norris second and Piastri third. Kick Sauber&rsquo;s Nico Hulkenberg tried to make a dive under Piastri into the first corner and instead bumped cars and sent Piastri crashing into Norris.&nbsp;Norris&rsquo; car spun and bounced, and a rear wheel was knocked off. Piastri&rsquo;s car suffered suspension damage.&nbsp;A late-race crash between Aston Martin&rsquo;s Lance Stroll and Haas driver Esteban Ocon forced the 19-lap event to finish behind a safety car.&nbsp;The result allows Verstappen, who is making a late-season charge at a possible fifth consecutive Formula 1 championship, to pull within 55 points of leader Piastri with six grand prix and two more sprint races on the season.&nbsp;Because both McLarens were taken out of the race, Piastri maintains his 22-point lead over Norris. Both drivers are chasing their first season championship.&nbsp;It was the second straight race with contact between the two McLarens. They nearly crashed in Singapore when Norris bumped tires with Piastri on the opening lap.

Max Verstappen dominated the United States Grand Prix sprint after McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris collided on the first lap. The crash ended both drivers’ races and dented McLaren’s title hopes ahead of Sunday’s main event.

Verstappen wins dramatic US Grand Prix sprint, McLarens crash

Reuters

SINGAPORE: George Russell drove a flawless race from pole position to win the Singapore Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday ahead of Red Bull&#39;s world champion Max Verstappen. Briton Russell took the chequered flag under the lights of the Marina Bay street circuit 5.4 seconds clear of Verstappen to claim his second victory of the season. Lando Norris put pressure on Verstappen towards the end of the race but had to settle for third ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, the pair earning enough points to seal a second consecutive constructors&#39; title for McLaren. Piastri&#39;s lead over Briton Norris in the drivers&#39; standings was cut to 22 points, while Verstappen is 63 points behind the Australian with six races remaining in the season. The celebrations for the constructors&#39; title in the McLaren garage might be muted, however, with Piastri fuming at the way Norris forced his way past his teammate on the opening corner. Kimi Antonelli was a distant fifth in the other Mercedes with Charles Leclerc sixth ahead of his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, while Haas driver Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz, who started at the back of the grid after the Williams cars were disqualified from qualifying, took the final points in ninth and 10th. Russell got away to a clean start from pole with Verstappen behind him but Norris, who started fifth, clipped the back of the Dutchman&#39;s Red Bull as he forced his way up the inside of Piastri on the first corner. Norris sustained some damage to the front end of his car and Piastri expressed his discontent on the team radio at his teammate&#39;s manoeuvre, accusing the Briton of &quot;barging him out of the way&quot;. The stewards gave the incident the all clear and McLaren said they would look at it after the race with Piastri again railing at what he said was the unfairness of the decision. Verstappen was the first of the leaders to pit and tore around the track to ensure Norris would not be able to undercut him when the Briton changed his tyres seven laps later. Norris asserted his right as McLaren&#39;s lead driver to pit ahead of Piastri, whose discontent with the team would not have been improved by a notably slower stop than his teammate. Verstappen was 3.5 seconds behind Russell at the halfway stage and ended the race clinging on to keep second place from Norris rather than chasing a third straight race win.

October 5, 2025 McLaren celebrate after winning the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship for Constructors (Reuters)

George Russell won the Singapore GP from pole, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, while McLaren secured their second consecutive constructors' title.

Articles tagged with "McLaren"

Joy for Norris in Miami as McLaren end Mercedes run

Verstappen wins Qatar GP to set up final race title showdown

Verstappen wins dramatic US Grand Prix sprint, McLarens crash

George Russell wins Singapore Grand Prix, McLaren take constructors' title