17 hours ago
17
Lando Norris won the sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix with a dominant drive for McLaren, beating his teammate Oscar Piastri into second to secure a one-two for the team and deny Mercedes a win for the first time this season.
Charles Leclerc took a strong third for Ferrari but Mercedes, dominant for the opening three meetings, could manage only fourth and sixth for George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli had finished fourth but was given a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, a costly error for the championship leader. Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton seventh for Ferrari.
Norris, the defending world champion, put in a calm, controlled drive to seal his first win this year at the Miami International Autodrome in the 19-lap dash, in what was something of a staid affair around the Hard Rock Stadium, but with it has potentially kickstarted McLaren’s championship ambitions.
Russell won the opening race of the season at the Australian Grand Prix but with Antonelli having won the next two races, he still leads Russell by seven points in the world championship.
Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull had all brought major upgrades to Miami after F1 underwent an enforced five-week break after the Japanese GP, because of the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix and all three looked to have improved, while Mercedes did not have any substantial developments here.
The result represents a remarkable turnaround for McLaren, who had opened the season off the pace but the team had expected to make gains with their first raft of developments for the car. Their form in Miami however has almost certainly exceeded expectations. They more than had the measure of Mercedes, while Ferrari too will consider their pace to be a major step forward. If they can repeat the form in qualifying and the race, both must be considered to be right back in the title fight.
It is Norris’s fourth sprint victory and his second in a row in Miami, having taken the flag in a tricky wet-dry contest here last year. He made a good start to hold his lead but Antonelli was once more slow away and dropped from second to fourth as Piastri slotted in behind his teammate at the front.
Russell made up a spot to fifth as Antonelli began to chase down Leclerc in third but with the order becoming quickly settled on what is an energy rich circuit in terms of recharging the batteries, with the top six putting in comparable lap times.
Norris was enormously comfortable out front, opening up a two-second gap to Piastri by lap six. Russell made a dive down the inside at turn 17 to take fourth from Antonelli on lap seven but the Italian struck back to reclaim it shortly afterwards, while Hamilton enjoyed a feisty tussle with Verstappen for sixth, with the Dutchman ultimately claiming the place.
Notably neither Mercedes was able to chase down the McLarens or Leclerc’s Ferrari, no little turnaround from the form they had shown in the opening three rounds, while Norris calmly took the flag and Antonelli was given the late penalty. Pierre Gasly was eighth for Alpine.
A minute’s silence was held on the grid before the race in honour of the passing of Alex Zanardi, the former F1 driver and paralympic champion who died on Friday.
