McLaren's Norris takes Sprint Pole in Miami, and takes fight to Mercedes

Elsewhere, Aston Martin's woes continued in Miami, with neither Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll able to set a competitive time in SQ1. Alpine look to have made good progress on their promising start to the season, with both cars making it to SQ3.

Sprint Qualifying started with something of a stand-off as cars were initially slow to get out on track, Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli with a close call in the pit lane, but with just 12 minutes to play with in SQ1, the action was underway soon enough.

The initial flyer for McLaren's Lando Norris was compromised after Lance Stroll's lock up at Turn 17, but the Briton looked quick on his next run, ultimately topping the timing by a hundredth of a second on Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

It was Aston Martin's Stroll first to exit SQ1, setting no time in the short session with a suspected issue, and he was later joined by teammate Fernando Alonso, who failed to set a representative time, as well as Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson.

There was some confusion as to whether Lawson had actually made it into the next set of runs, with Racing Bulls waiting to hear whether Alex Albon had crossed track limits, but it was not to be.

Ferrari and McLaren looked like they've made a real step forward, with Leclerc and Oscar Piastri fighting for P1 across SQ2, the former again topping the timing with a 1:28.333 this time, just over a tenth ahead of the Aussie. Mercedes, meanwhile, struggled as Russell and Antonelli finished just P4 and P6, respectively.

Out in SQ2 were Lindblad, Carlos Sainz, Albon, Bearman, and Audi duo Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.

It was time for Sprint Pole, eight minutes to secure top spot for the Saturday race, but a one-lap shot ensued with Russell first out with just four to go.

Mercedes' strong advantage at the start of the season had seemingly evaporated, with Russell's effort bested by Norris by six tenths. The Mercedes man's final time was only enough to put him P6 in the end.

And it was that 1:27.869 that got the job done for Norris, beating Antonelli to Sprint Pole by two tenths, his teammate Oscar Piastri completing the front three.