Lando Norris and his sparkly race helmet is on the hunt for a sprint pole and puts his McLaren top in SQ1 ahead of Max Verstappen. Here comes one of the rookies - it's Kimi Antonelli, who beats Norris' time by 0.032 seconds.

Second becomes third for Carlos Sainz as he's beaten by his Williams team-mate Alex Albon. World champion Max Verstappen is clear at the front, however, leading the pack by 0.476 seconds.

Yuki Tsunoda has race helmet issues, so while the Red Bull driver sorts that out, his team-mate Max Verstappen goes quickest with a 1:27.953. Carlos Sainz is next to cross the line and slips into second in the Williams.

Jack Doohan is waiting to get out of the pit lane but the Australian has spotted an unsafe release by Racing Bulls as Liam Lawson tries to join the queue.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Miami

Image source, Reuters

Oscar Piastri has stepped it up this year. He has worked really hard over the winter on what his weaknesses were, and that was mainly qualifying. And he's nailed it so far this season and he's such a cool customer. He's not out to make friends but he's not out to make enemies either. Nobody has a problem with Oscar Piastri. He's the coolest, calmest Formula 1 driver I think I've ever seen.

Well done, Haas. Oliver Bearman's car is ready to go for SQ1.

Put 12 minutes on the clock and medium tyres only for this session, please.

Image source, Getty Images

The Miami Grand Prix is still a rookie on the F1 calendar, as it only made its debut during the 2022 season.

It's held on a 5.412-km track around the Hard Rock Stadium (the car park has come in handy for this one), home to the Miami Dolphins NFL team and the host of an impressive six Super Bowls.

The circuit was designed to blend the high-speed excitement of a permanent track with the unique challenges of a street circuit. The layout, after 36 drafts, features 19 corners, three straights, three DRS zones and top speeds of over 350km/h.

Damon Hill
1996 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra in Miami

It is such a long season and you have to pace yourself. Any world championship is a long slog. We have a lot of points and a lot of to-ing and fro-ing over the rest of this championship. Don't count Max Verstappen out but it looks like it's a battle of wills for these two drivers at McLaren.

We'll have a new member of the BBC Radio 5 Live commentary team this weekend, with 1996 world champion Damon Hill joining Harry Benjamin and Andrew Benson in the commentary box tomorrow and Sunday. Before that, Damon has been speaking to our reporter Jennie Gow...

Image source, Getty Images

It was Max Verstappen versus Charles Leclerc for Miami sprint pole last year as the Red Bull beat the Ferrari by 0.108 seconds. Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo, two drivers we said goodbye to at the end of 2024, were third and fourth respectively.

This was the race weekend McLaren had a major upgrade on their car and while Lando Norris had all of it on his, a couple of mistakes cost the Briton a shot at pole and he ended up in ninth place.

It was a bit of a stinker for Mercedes, too, as they could only manage 11th and 12th on the grid.

Image source, Getty Images

Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar should enjoy that sit down, as the schedule now is full-on until the chequered flag on Sunday.

Sprint qualifying has three sessions, where the five slowest cars are eliminated from the first two - like normal qualifying.

These sessions, known as SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3, last 12, 10 and eight minutes respectively.

This will make up the grid for the sprint race, which is 100km, or 19 laps.

The top eight finishers score points, from eight for first place to one for eighth spot, which will get added to the overall drivers' championship standings.

Image source, Getty Images

Since his maiden sprint win for Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton has found it difficult to muscle his way in to the podium places; the closest he's come is fifth spot at the Bahrain Grand Prix last month.

Hamilton has spoken candidly about how there are "lots of different things" preventing him from replicating his performance of round two in China, adding: "When I joined Mercedes, the first six months were tough, getting attuned to working with new people."

The 40-year-old said he is "definitely working hard to adjust" to life with the Italian team.

It's a big week for Hamilton, as he is also dashing across to New York after the race in Miami to be co-chair of this year's Met Gala.

When asked if he had his outfit sorted, he replied: "I don't even know. I've not really put much thought into it."

Image source, Getty Images

Miami is the second sprint event of the season - Belgium, Austin, Sao Paulo and Qatar are the others - but what happened in the first?

The opening 100km race of 2025 took place at the Chinese Grand Prix in March when Lewis Hamilton sealed his first victory for new team Ferrari from pole position.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton fended off a challenge from Max Verstappen early on and controlled the race from there. His engineer Riccardo Adami called his performance a "masterclass in tyre management".

Image source, Getty Images

In the very early stages of first practice, Lando Norris came on the radio to flag there were some loose tools knocking around his cockpit, so he headed back to the pits straight away and the offending items were cleared.

The stewards noted the team for releasing the car in an "unsafe condition". Turns out it was two flashlights that had accidentally been left behind.

Following an investigation after the session, McLaren were issued with just a warning on this occasion.

Image source, Getty Images

The repair shop is open at Haas after rookie Oliver Bearman brought out the red flags in the closing stages of Friday practice.

Bearman was exiting Turn 11 when he lost control of his Haas and spun into the wall at Turn 12 with less than five minutes on the clock remaining. The British teenager was unharmed and quickly apologised to his team on the radio.

The damage didn't look too bad, so hopefully we'll see the teenager competing in sprint qualifying shortly.

Image source, Getty Images

The only practice session we'll see this weekend belonged to Oscar Piastri, who managed to bank his lap - with all purple sectors - before Oliver Bearman hit the barriers in the Haas and put an end to the hour early.

Championship leader Piastri was 0.356 seconds quicker than Charles Leclerc's Ferrari in second place, with Max Verstappen, who now has a new baby daughter named Lily, finishing in third.

The two Williams of Carlos Sainz in fourth and Alex Albon in fifth completed the top five in Miami.

Image source, Getty Images

Hello again, folks. Are we all fed, watered and ready for some Friday night Formula 1 action?

First practice was curtailed by a late red flag, so there are a decent amount of drivers heading into sprint qualifying without a fast lap on the softs. Whether that will impact on who takes pole position, we'll have to wait and see.

The second sprint quali of the season gets under way at 21:30 BST.

Jennie Gow, Harry Benjamin, Autosport Editor-In-Chief Rebecca Clancy and F1 correspondent Andrew Benson are live at the top of this page right now, so click the 'listen live' tab to tune in.

You can also listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and via most smart speakers by asking BBC Sounds to play Miami Grand Prix sprint qualifying.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Miami

Image source, Getty Images

McLaren's Oscar Piastri set the pace in practice at the Miami Grand Prix as a crash for Briton Oliver Bearman ended the session early.

Piastri was 0.356 seconds quicker than Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in second place with Red Bull's Max Verstappen third as the teams prepared for sprint qualifying later on Friday.

Bearman lost control at Turns 11 and 12, spinning his Haas into the wall four minutes before the end of the session.

That prevented the second McLaren driver Lando Norris from doing a lap on the soft tyres, and he ended up 12th as a result.

Read the full report here

Image source, Getty Images

That was not the ideal end to the only practice session before sprint qualifying begins later on. The likes of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton didn't get their soft run in so how quick some of the other front-runners will be, we'll have to wait and see.

Work will now get started on getting Ollie Bearman back on the road following his crash at the end of this session.

The action comes thick and fast now, so go grab yourselves a break and join us again at 21:00 BST for build-up.

The commentary team will also be up and running at the same time at the top of this page.

See you shortly!

Have a listen to the latest episode of the Chequered Flag podcast, which previews the Miami Grand Prix. Jennie Gow is joined by Andrew Benson and Harry Benjamin and they discuss whether Oscar Piastri is now favourite for the drivers' title. We hear from him, and his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.