Miami Grand Prix sprint: Lando Norris wins chaotic race from Oscar Piastri


The race started on a wet track, after a 28-minute delay because of the poor conditions.

Piastri made a better launch than 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 pulled out a four-second lead in the the first few laps but as the track dried Norris began to come back at him and the McLarens were running nose to tail when Piastri pitted for slick tyres on lap 13.

He was gaining on Norris and set to resume the lead until the accident between Alonso and Lawson, which will be investigated by stewards after the race.

Norris resumed with a two-second lead and as the race finished under the safety car the win was secured.

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.

“My luck in Miami seems pretty good at the minute,” Norris said, “but the pace was already pretty good. You never know when to pit, go early or late and wait for safety car. It has worked two years in a row. I would probably prefer it happened tomorrow (in the grand prix) rather than today but I’m happy.”

Piastri said: “I feel like I did pretty everything right so a bit disappointed to come out in second but that’s how it goes sometimes. Racing is a tough business. Had to get my elbows out at the first corner, happy with what I did.”

Hamilton had struggled for pace on the wet tyres but he pitted for his slicks on lap 11, making the decision himself, and it vaulted him up the order from sixth in the opening laps to third at the end, passing the damaged Red Bull of Verstappen on track.

“I’m so happy with that,” he said. “It’s been a tough year so far but I never thought it would rain in Miami, it’s the first time we’ve all been on track in the wet here and what a race it provided us.

“I made that call in the end. Because I was going nowhere.”

The madcap events of the pit-stop period, safety car and Verstappen’s penalty helped Alex Albon vault to fourth in the results, ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, Lawson and Haas’ Oliver Bearman, who drove an excellent race to take the final point from 19th on the grid.

The drama began before the start when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc hit the wall in the wet conditions on the way to the grid, damaging the car and forcing him out of the race.



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