Kimi Antonelli produced a superb lap to claim pole position for the Miami Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen in a resurgent Red Bull amid a fresh twist in the formbook on Formula 1's return to action in Florida.
Mercedes' championship-leading Antonelli had earlier finished only sixth in the Sprint after a track limits penalty in a race dominated by McLaren, but the Italian teenager was back on top form in qualifying for Sunday's main event.
In a gripping session in which each of the grid's 'big four' teams at one stage looked like they had a chance of taking pole, Antonelli delivered a storming first Q3 time of 1:27.798 to serve as an ominous benchmark for his rivals.
And although an error at the start of his final attempt meant he missed the chance to improve his time, Antonelli still ended comfortably ahead as second-placed Verstappen in the heavily-upgraded Red Bull and third-placed Charles Leclerc in a similarly-overhauled Ferrari finished their final attempts two and three tenths slower than the lead Mercedes respectively.
But George Russell struggled again in the sister Mercedes and qualified only fifth, four tenths away from the increasingly-confident Antonelli who follows the legendary Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher in claiming the first three GP poles of his career in successive events.
"It's been an amazing day to be on pole again. It was a difficult start with the Sprint when it didn't go our way but super happy with the recovery," said Antonelli, whose world title lead over Russell was trimmed to seven points by his penalty in the Sprint.
"I got a bit excited with the last lap in Q3 but the first lap was good enough and I'm really happy with that."
For the first time, though, in that three-race run Antonelli will have four-time world champion Verstappen for company as the Dutchman built on what had already been an improved start to the weekend for Red Bull to put their upgraded car on the front row for the first time in 2026.
But McLaren experienced what Norris labelled a "reality check" as the Sprint polesitters and one-two victors slipped to fourth on the grid with the reigning world champion and seventh with Oscar Piastri.
Lewis Hamilton qualified between Russell and Piastri in sixth in the other Ferrari, slightly closer to team-mate Leclerc than he had been in Friday's Sprint Qualifying having said he would make big set-up changes to his car.
The rest of the top 10 mirrored the same order as Friday.
Franco Colapinto was again eighth for Alpine ahead of Red Bull's Isack Hadjar - whose pace deficit to team-mate Verstappen was once more large, this time at 0.8s - and Pierre Gasly in the second Alpine.
While Miami has been bathed in sweltering sunshine so far this weekend, the forecast for Sunday had always been for wet and potentially thundery weather.
Officials met after qualifying on Saturday evening to discuss the situation with F1, the FIA and the Miami Grand Prix subsequently issuing a joint statement confirming that the due to forecast heavier rainstorms later in the afternoon when the race start had originally been scheduled.
After an enforced five weeks off track following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, most of Formula 1's 11 teams have introduced an array of upgrades to their cars in Miami.
The result of that at the front of the field has been that McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull have all looked more capable of challenging early championship leaders Mercedes on pure pace than any of the opening three rounds back in March.
But while McLaren proved the team to beat at the start of the weekend in the Sprint format, full qualifying showed that the pecking order had not yet been set in stone for the weekend as Mercedes, with Antonelli particularly, fought back and Red Bull made another step forward in pace.
Verstappen was immediately quick out of the blocks in Q1 and then topped Q2 before winding up closest of all to the flying Antonelli in Q3, finishing 0.166s behind pole with his final attempt.
"It's an incredible turnaround for us," admitted Verstappen, whose best Grand Prix finish so far this year is sixth in Australia.
"I really didn't feel in control of the car up until this weekend. I didn't know what would happen with it.
"The team have brought a really good performance upgrade to the car - made it more driveable for me and it really clicked as soon as I jumped in the car here it felt great, or a lot better.
"For us, to be on the front row, is a bit of a surprise but we take it. It's a massive boost for the whole team and we are heading in the right direction."
McLaren, though, surprisingly took a step back after their Sprint dominance with both Norris and Piastri lapping slower than they went in Sprint Qualifying 24 hours before.
"There were little things," said Norris. "It was a bit windier, the direction was different, temperatures. But same for everyone, right?
"I think both cars clearly struggled a bit more than yesterday and we need to understand why. At the same time, it's not like I felt we did a bad job. But other people did a bad job yesterday and today they did the job they should have done.
"Mercedes are just as quick as us. When you look at the GPS from Ferrari and Red Bull, there are many places they are quicker than us. So we just did a very good job yesterday and in the Sprint to win.
"But qualifying was a little reality check. But it's more where we deserved to be and where we should be honestly."
Sunday May 3
2.25pm: F2 Feature Race
4pm: Miami GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday
6pm: THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX*
8pm: Miami GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
9pm: Ted's Notebook*
*Also on Your Site Main Event
Formula 1 is in Miami as the 2026 season resumes, watch live on Your Site F1 with Sunday's Grand Prix at 6pm.
