Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in safety car finish to sprint

McLaren driver Lando Norris has snatched a wet-to-dry win in Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix sprint race – finishing ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton behind the safety car in an incident-filled event.

The Saturday afternoon sprint was reduced from 19 to 18 laps due to the adverse weather conditions, two of which were completed behind the safety car after a delayed starting procedure due to the lack of visibility.

After a 28-minute delay the race received a standing start, with maiden sprint polesitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli attempting to defend his lead from McLaren’s Piastri – Norris and Max Verstappen were on the second row.

But as Piastri lunged down the inside into Turn 1, Antonelli went off the track, dropping to fourth behind Norris and Verstappen, and just ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell.

From the front, championship leader Piastri managed to control the race in relative comfort, taking care of his intermediate tyres while a dry racing line slowly but surely emerged. Norris started putting pressure on Piastri as they dispatched third-placed Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, who had started from the pitlane, was the first to gamble for slicks on lap 11, providing valuable information to the rest of the field as they monitored the Japanese’s lap times on medium Pirellis.

Having been all at sea on inters, Hamilton was one of several cars to follow Tsunoda into the pits the following tour despite only six laps left to benefit from them, but their rapid race pace soon showed it was a gamble worth taking, with Hamilton moving up the order.

Verstappen and Antonelli both pitted for slicks on lap 13, but the pair came to blows as the world champion was released unsafely into the patch of Antonelli. Verstappen caught damage on his front wing, while Antonelli was forced to drive through without stopping in his box.

Hamilton’s searing soft-tyre pace also forced Piastri and then Norris to react by pitting for mediums, while a Fernando Alonso crash after contact with Liam Lawson caused a safety car.

Crucially, Norris just emerged from the pits ahead of Piastri, handing the Briton the lead behind the safety car ahead of Piastri and Hamilton, who had passed Verstappen’s damaged Red Bull.

Verstappen was then handed a 10-second penalty for an unsafe release, which demoted him to 17th.

Albon moved up to finish fourth for Williams ahead of Russell, with Lance Stroll taking a strong sixth for Aston Martin. Lawson was seventh for Racing Bulls after rocketing into the top 10 at the start from his 15th grid spot, while Haas’ Oliver Bearman took the final point in eighth.

After his contact with Verstappen, Antonelli had to come into the pits once again to take medium tyres, bumping him out of the points in 10th.

Charles Leclerc failed to make the start after crashing out on the laps to the grid, aquaplaning off the road in his Ferrari while on intermediate tyres.

By defeating Piastri in the sprint, Norris reduces his championship deficit from 10 to nine points.

F1 Miami Grand Prix sprint race results