McLaren takes breakthrough 1-2 in Miami sprint
Lando Norris won a Miami Formula 1 sprint race in which McLaren took its first 1-2 since the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix - and Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen reignited their rivalry.
It was here in 2025 that McLaren became the first team to score a 1-2 in a sprint and grand prix on the same weekend, and here in 2024 that Norris took the breakthrough win that launched his title bid - so Miami is again proving game-changing for McLaren.
Third-placed Charles Leclerc spent much of the sprint within a second of Piastri, but the Ferrari dropped off in the final laps.
Leclerc capitalised on a slow start for Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who finished fourth but was demoted to sixth with a track limits penalty.
George Russell finished fifth at the flag so was therefore classified fourth, deeming a brief intra-Mercedes battle on-track irrelevant.
Verstappen and Hamilton provided a brief moment of drama on lap nine, when the Red Bull tried to slice his way down the inside of the Mercedes at Turn 11. The pass was completed well off track, and Verstappen was asked to return it. The Dutchman then took sixth cleanly at Turn 17, shortly after.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took eighth and the last point for Alpine having cleared team-mate Franco Colapinto at the start as Colapinto lost momentum in a squeeze with Hamilton and Verstappen.
Isack Hadjar started ninth and dropped to 12th at the start. He spent his sprint clawing his way back up to ninth between the Alpines.
The Cadillacs and Aston Martins were the only four cars not to run the sprint on mediums. Fernando Alonso finished best of the bunch in 16th on softs, just six tenths of a second ahead of Sergio Perez’s hard-shod Cadillac.
Alex Albon finished 19th and was the only driver to pit, for a front wing/nose change that took more than 20 seconds - but Valtteri Bottas rounded out the finishers in 20th for Cadillac having been passed by the Williams late on.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi had a fiery failure on the way to the grid, and Arvid Lindblad also failed to start in his Racing Bulls.
Results
1 Lando Norris (McLaren)
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +3.766s
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +6.251s
4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +8.777s
5 George Russell (Mercedes) +12.951s
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +13.639s
7 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +21.665s
8 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +30.525s
9 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +35.346s
10 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +36.970s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +48.348s
12 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +56.972s
13 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +57.365s
14 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +58.504s
15 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +59.358s
16 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1m16.097s
17 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +1m16.691s
18 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1m17.626s
19 Alex Albon (Williams) +1m28.173s
20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +1m29.597s
DNS Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)
DNS Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
