Norris had led SQ1 and SQ2 in his massively upgraded McLaren in Miami on Friday evening, with his time in the middle segment of sprint qualifying good enough to have beaten eventual session-topper Max Verstappen.
But Norris lost 0.8s to the Red Bull in their respective first sectors on the sole runs in SQ3, which took place with the drivers running soft tyres after they had used mediums throughout SQ1 and SQ2.
Norris’s SQ3 lap featured him catching dramatic oversteer snaps at Turns 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 through the flowing opening sector around the Hard Rock Stadium, ending up 0.831s slower than Verstappen as his handling seemed to improve throughout his final lap.
When asked what had gone wrong, Norris replied: “I just pushed too hard, as simple as that.
“The car was feeling very good. Just silly to be honest, a couple of mistakes in Turn 1 and a big spiral from there.
“It’s a shame, the team has done a good job, the upgrades are working, so I’m happy with everything, just not with one thing.”
Norris also said he hoped to gain places from his ninth-place starting spot for the Miami sprint as his “pace was very good” in the opening track running at this event.
“Probably one of the quickest,” he added of his potential. “So, disappointed with today but I will do my best tomorrow.”
Lando