MOTORSPORT – Lando Norris lucked in to win a rain-hit and crash-strewn Miami Grand Prix sprint race in a McLaren one-two yesterday that trimmed teammate Oscar Piastri’s Formula One lead to nine points.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, winner of the season’s first sprint in China, had a smile on his face again after finishing third with the safety car leading the closing laps before peeling off at the end.
“My luck in Miami seems pretty good at the minute, really happy,” grinned Norris, who won last year’s main grand prix for his first F1 victory after also benefiting from a safety car period.
“I don’t think I will be buying any lottery tickets at this place,” commented Piastri over the car radio.
Norris got lucky with the safety car deployed just as he pitted for slick tyres, with Piastri having already stopped, and came back out still in the lead he had inherited from the Australian.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was demoted to last place after being handed a 10 second penalty for an unsafe release that led to a pitlane collision with Mercedes’ pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli finished 10th but moved back to seventh after Williams’ Alex Albon, Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson and Haas’s Oliver Bearman all collected time penalties and dropped out of the top eight.
That lifted Mercedes’ George Russell to fourth, Lance Stroll to fifth for Aston Martin and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda to sixth after starting in the pit lane.
The final point went to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who was 11th at the chequered flag.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed on his way from the pits to the starting grid in treacherous conditions and did not start.
The safety car led the field around before the start procedure was suspended, with drivers struggling to see in the spray, and all 19 cars returned to the pit lane before an eventual standing start on a drying track.
Piastri seized the lead into turn one, with Antonelli forced wide and dropping to fourth as Norris and Verstappen also went past.
Verstappen was investigated for a possible false start, with no further action, and then the track began to dry making a change of tyres increasingly look a rewarding but potentially risky move.
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