Lando Norris joked that he was hoping fatherhood would slow Max Verstappen down as of the Miami Grand Prix.

But, perhaps the opposite has even happened, as Verstappen excelled to put his Red Bull P1 on the grid for Sundays Grand Prix, with Norris forced to settle for a spot on the front row.

Max Verstappen: Faster as a father?

On the eve of the Miami Grand Prix race weekend, Max and his long-time partner Kelly Piquet welcomed their daughter Lilly into the world.

After that precious experience, Verstappen then jetted off to Miami for Round 6 of the F1 2025 campaign, and considering that Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko had previously predicted a decline of three tenths for their four-time World Champion when he became a dad, all eyes were on Verstappen to find out if he had lost a step.

He certainly has not! Rather, Verstappen would deliver a stellar one-lap display to take pole in Miami by 0.065s over Norris in the McLaren, as the title rivals prepare to share the front row.

Norris joked that he hoped for what Marko had feared, but his luck was out.

“Yeah, congrats to Max, especially being a dad. I was hoping it was going to slow him down a little bit, but he clearly didn’t!” Norris said with a smile after qualifying.

“I’m happy with today, happy with the progress I’ve been making with the car, with myself. Max did a Max lap once again, and I can’t fault him, so happy. And, yeah, excited for tomorrow.”

Norris has spoken in recent rounds about a struggle to gel with the McLaren MCL39, but confirmed “I did, yeah” to the suggestion of gaining confidence in the McLaren challenger after coming so close to Miami pole.

Taking too much kerb at Turn 17 on his final Q3 lap was perhaps a key contributor to Norris falling agonisingly short, as he admitted that he still needs to “put it together”.

“I think even that lap, it’s all shoulda woulda coulda stuff, but I didn’t deliver,” said Norris. “The pace was there, the car has been still feeling good.

“I’ve been feeling better than I have done over the last few weekends. I’ve still not put it together. But it is what it is, Max on pole, I’m P2 so, yeah, ready to see what we can do into Turn 1.”

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Verstappen will launch from pole looking for a second win of F1 2025, the same true for Norris who has not won since the Melbourne season-opener, but Verstappen is taking nothing for granted.

The weather could yet be a factor again with the threat of rain, the heavens having opened on Saturday ahead of the sprint.

“It was a great qualifying,” said Verstappen, “I think we improved the car a tiny amount which helped me to rotate it a bit better.

“Honestly, in Q1, Q2, Q3 was just improving on every run, and trying to find a bit more of the limit, I had a tiny moment into Turn 1 so lost a bit of time there.

“But it is very complicated with the tyres over a lap, but in the end, it worked out well, so I am happy to be on pole.

“It is qualifying, so I tried to correct it and floored it out of the corner.

“We will have to wait and see with the weather, but it is the best starting position, but the race will be a different story, but we will try to maximise everything we can.”

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