Lando Norris took pole position for the sprint race in Miami to light up his title defence.
The world champion is 47 points off leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes after three races, one of which, in China, he did not start with engine problems.
But Norris was the star man in a sunlit Hard Rock Stadium, as the results of Formula One’s arms’ race started to reveal themselves.
Norris was 0.222sec ahead of Antonelli, who had looked strong throughout practice and in flashes during the qualifying session.
Norris’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri was third quickest, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fourth, Max Verstappen fifth for Red Bull and George Russell sixth in the other Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton, in the second Ferrari, was seventh quickest.
Qualifying did not answer every question over who had made most headway in the five-week break brought about by the conflict in the Middle East that saw the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix wiped off the calendar.
Lando Norris took pole position for the sprint race in Miami to light up his title defence
The world champion is 47 points off leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes after three races
But it went some way to showing McLaren are pointing in the right direction.
This, too, is a track on which Norris excels – the scene of his first win, and a big party, two years ago.
The British driver said: ‘A perfect result for us. A nice way to reward the team.
‘We have a lot of upgrades on the car. It’s nice to feel some grip again and to reward the guys and the girls that have put a lot of work into this.
‘I’ve always loved Miami on and off the track. It’s the beginning of the weekend, so still a long way to go but nice to tick things off by doing this.’
At the other end of the spectrum, it was an awful afternoon for Aston Martin, with their two cars glued to the foot of the table. Fernando Alonso was 10 seconds off the pace and his team-mate Lance Stroll did not even set a time.
This is a seriously bad position for the team after the unavoidable month-plus gap, and for their technical guru Adrian Newey, who is paid £20million a year to be their magician revivalist.
