MIAMI GP – Lando Norris wins a chaotic sprint race ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri
Lando Norris has won the sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix beating his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in a chaotic wet race. The McLaren driver found himself in the lead as Piastri pitted just before the safety car caused by Fernando Alonso crashing his Aston Martin after being pushed wide by the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson.
Norris then pitted to switch to soft tyres and rejoined ahead of Piastri, with Lewis Hamilton staying out longer and pitted from third just before Alonso’s crash. Ferrari timed it perfectly for him to retain third as the safety car came out onto track, he finished on the podium nearly a second and a half ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon.
Hamilton’s stop saw him rejoin third late on, Norris also had a well-timed stop allowing him to jump Piastri and the Ferrari during the safety car, which remained out until the chequered flag. Hamilton had been one of the first drivers to switch to slicks and his race was transformed by the strategy, jumping from a struggling sixth to what became third for his second Sprint podium of his Ferrari career after his win in China.
While teammate Charles Leclerc did not start after crashing on his way to the grid as the rain started to fall, which lead to a delayed start.
Piastri made a better launch than Kimi Antonelli and was alongside the Mercedes on the approach to the first corner, the position already won. Antonelli claimed Piastri had pushed him off, but in fact ran wide off track on his own as Piastri assumed the lead ahead of Norris, Verstappen, and the rejoining Mercedes.
Piastri then lead pulling out a four second lead before the safety car, but Norris was steadily gaining on him. Following the pit stops Norris effectively undercut him rejoining two seconds ahead. It was almost carbon-copy of his maiden win in the grand prix here last year, when a safety car vaulted him into the lead ahead of Verstappen.
The safety car was caused by a collision between Alonso and Lawson after the Racing Bull went off-line at Turn Eleven, when he was rejoining, he pushed the two-time champion into the wall. That effectively ended the race as the safety car came out because of the debris.
Max Verstappen had finished fourth on the road but was dropped to last of the classified finishers in seventeenth because of an unsafe release during his stop. The four-time champion was released into the path of Kimi Antonelli, that made the Italian miss his box and be forced to do another lap.
The collision broke Verstappen’s front wing and, with Antonelli forced to take evasive action to avoid an even bigger accident, the Italian teenager had to continue down the pit lane beyond Mercedes’ pit box and miss his own pit stop.
The pole sitter then dropped to tenth finishing five and a half seconds off the winner Norris. George Russell brought his Mercedes home fifth finishing just over a quarter of a second ahead of Lance Stroll. While the Canadian’s teammate retired Stroll was just under three tenths behind Russell.
Liam Lawson brought his Racing Bull home seventh he was six tenths behind Stroll as he finished nearly two tenths ahead of Ollie Bearman, as they completed the points finishers. Yuki Tsunoda was ninth finishing nearly half a second behind the Haas and ahead of pole sitter Antonelli by nearly half a second, following the Mercedes driver’s collision with Verstappen.
Pierre Gasly was eleventh he was nearly two tenths behind Antonelli as he finished under two tenths ahead of Nico Hulkenberg. Isack Hadjar was thirteenth a second and a half ahead of Esteban Ocon, Gabriel Bortoletto and Jack Doohan, Verstappen was last of the finishers.
Related
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