Max Verstappen took pole position for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix sprint race, delivering a strong performance despite his dissatisfaction with his Red Bull car. The upgraded McLaren cars showed early promise, but their qualifying position faded in the final session.

Lando Norris, driving an updated McLaren described as "almost a b-spec" car by CEO Zak Brown, demonstrated his pole contender status by topping the timesheets in both Q1 and Q2 on medium tires. However, in Q3, many drivers struggled to get the soft tires to the optimal temperature, resulting in a lack of improvement in lap times. Five out of the 10 drivers in Q3 failed to better their Q2 times on the mediums, including Norris.

Norris faced difficulties maneuvering his McLaren through sector one, losing valuable time that ultimately restricted him to a ninth-place starting position. Verstappen, despite feeling that his Red Bull was "pretty terrible" to drive, managed to secure pole position, edging out Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by just over a tenth of a second. Leclerc's performance was an impressive recovery after losing most of the FP1 session due to an early mistake.

Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo shone in Q3, putting his Red Bull car into fourth place on the grid. This result matched the best qualifying outcome of his post-McLaren comeback. Carlos Sainz secured fifth place, followed by Oscar Piastri, who only had half of McLaren's new upgrade for the weekend.

In a surprising turn of events, Lance Stroll outperformed Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin, earning a rare intra-team victory and sharing the fourth row on the grid. Norris and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 positions.

Mercedes faced disappointment with their major upgrade package, as both drivers struggled to put together a competitive lap during sprint qualifying. George Russell narrowly beat Lewis Hamilton, but they finished 11th and 12th, failing to progress to Q3. Mercedes now faces investigation for a pitlane incident, which may result in penalties for the team.

Esteban Ocon, driving for Alpine, made it through to Q2 and secured 13th place. Kevin Magnussen of Haas followed in 14th place after fading in Q2, while Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda continued his struggles from the Chinese GP and landed in 15th place.

Logan Sargeant, despite a costly error in the first sector, showcased impressive pace in the final sector and narrowly missed out on advancing to Q2. Sargeant's performance allowed him to outshine his Williams teammate Alex Albon for the first time.

The final starting positions for the sprint race will depend on the stewards' decision regarding Valtteri Bottas. Bottas, driving for Sauber, impeded Piastri during his first qualifying session with his new race engineer. Bottas ended up in 18th place, behind his teammate Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly in 16th place in his Alpine.

The Miami Grand Prix sprint race promises to be an exciting battle for the drivers as they aim to capitalize on their qualifying positions and secure crucial points this weekend.