On a rainy Saturday, Lando Norris claimed victory in the Miami GP sprint race. After a delayed start, he managed to stay ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen, due to a penalty, fell out of the points. Here’s a quick recap of the Miami GP sprint race!
Heavy rainfall prior to the sprint race resulted in Charles Leclerc crashing his Ferrari into the wall on his way to the grid, causing him to miss the race. The start was delayed as it became apparent during the warm-up lap that the drivers could hardly see anything. After nearly half an hour, the race finally got underway: the first two laps were behind the safety car, followed by the real start.
ROUND 3/18: Polesitter Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen (fourth), and all the others set off on intermediates. Could there be pit stops to switch to slicks on the drying track? At the start, Antonelli immediately lost his first position: Oscar Piastri got off to a better start, made himself wide, and took the lead. Norris and Verstappen also overtook the Italian.
ROUND 5/18: Piastri already had almost a two-second lead over his teammate Norris, with Verstappen in third. In the midfield, there were exciting battles between Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz. Meanwhile, the track was drying up quickly: everyone was waiting for the first driver to switch to slicks.
Round 8/18
Both Piastri and Max Verstappen are under investigation by the race officials: the former for his overtaking maneuver on Antonelli, the latter for possibly not being correctly positioned at the start. It quickly becomes clear that no action will be taken. The race has meanwhile turned into a procession.
Round 11/18
With seven laps to go, the first driver makes a move: Red Bull takes a gamble with Yuki Tsunoda, who started last. The Japanese driver continues on medium tires. Lewis Hamilton tries a similar strategy a lap later: he switches to soft tires. Following this, more drivers make the switch.
Round 13/18
Chaos in the pit lane! Verstappen makes his pit stop, but is sent off too early by his team. As a result, he collides with Antonelli, who is due for a stop at Mercedes. The Dutchman loses part of his wing, forcing the Italian to continue driving.
Round 15/18
Piastri has also made his stop, followed shortly by Norris. The Brit is lucky: at the moment of his tire change, Fernando Alonso crashes. This triggers a safety car, forcing Piastri to slow down and Norris to rejoin the track as the leader. Hamilton, in the meantime, has overtaken Verstappen. The latter is handed a ten-second penalty for the ‘unsafe release’ in the pits, a team error.
Round 18/18
The race ends under the safety car, making Norris the winner of the sprint race, followed by Piastri and Hamilton. Verstappen crosses the finish line fourth, but due to the ten-second penalty, he falls out of the points.
