McLaren warns: Focus is on finding more performance after Miami pole

Norris claimed his first pole position of the season on Friday, with teammate Oscar Piastri also finishing inside the top three. Neil Houldey, the team’s Technical Director of Applied Engineering, was satisfied with the result after McLaren introduced seven updates for the weekend.

He said: "We’re pleased with today’s result and performance across the opening day of running in Miami. The car has been great for both drivers, and the first phase of our development upgrades have shown promising signs. To come away with a Pole and third on tomorrow’s Sprint grid, given where we were in the first few races, is a strong step forward. Credit to the team at the factory for this first step, from aerodynamics and design through to manufacturing, and to the crew at the track who finished putting the package together ready for today’s sessions."

With the introduction of the new packages, teams are still optimising them. Houldey highlighted that this is the next step for his team as well. "Now we need to carry this momentum into the rest of the weekend and aim to score as many points as we can. The pace is encouraging, the execution has been excellent, and the focus is on converting this step into results while continuing to gather and exploit further performance from the entire package."