George Russell surprised by McLaren and Ferrari performance jump at Miami GP

George Russell says he was not expecting the size of the performance gains both McLaren and Ferrari made at the Miami GP

George Russell has said he was “surprised” by the size of the performance jump McLaren and Ferrari made after sprint qualifying for the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

After Mercedes dominated the opening three rounds of the season, taking every pole position and race win, its control on the new campaign has been loosened as Lando Norris stormed to sprint race pole in Miami, beating Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 0.222s.

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With McLaren's Oscar Piastri in third and Charles Leclerc in fourth - plus Max Verstappen fifth for Red Bull - it pushed Russell back to sixth in sprint qualifying, 0.624s off the pole time set by Norris.

Both McLaren and Ferrari delivered significant F1 car upgrade packages in Miami, while Mercedes arrived with modest updates as part of its long-term development schedule. The team was bracing for its rivals to make gains, but Russell admitted he was surprised by the size of the jump.

“Pretty surprising how big a jump McLaren and Ferrari have made, so that's pretty damn impressive. We knew they'd probably close the gap but they've been quicker than us,” Russell said after sprint qualifying.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

Russell also conceded his sprint qualifying wasn’t optimised as he was struggling with overheating his tyres through the slow-speed middle section of the Miami International Autodrome.

“My side I have been struggling today, Miami's not a track that I love to be honest, especially with these hotter conditions but it's only sprint qualifying so let's see what tomorrow brings,” he explained.

“I was just overheating my tyres a lot in that twisty section in the middle I was struggling to get the right balance with the car. Not much more to say than that really. As I said just quite surprised by the progress of the others but another day tomorrow.”