Sprint spectacle delivers for US fans in F1 Miami GP

Formula 1 treated its growing American fanbase to a Miami sprint race to remember as incidents and accidents led to another Lando Norris win in Florida, with Lewis Hamilton joining his fellow Brit on the podium.

A downpour ahead of the race had threatened to turn the second sprint of the year into a damp squib but, after the action got under way following a delay of over 30 minutes, F1 delivered in the United States once more.

The first incident occurred before the race had even begun, as Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari aquaplaned into the wall on his way to the grid. The start was eventually aborted to allow the track to at least become driveable.

The delay was worth the wait as the now 18-lap sprint began with the youngest polesitter in any F1 format, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, losing the lead on the first corner and dropping down to fourth as the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Norris, as well as Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, got past the Mercedes rookie.

The race then looked set to follow recent full grand prix, with little overtaking or incident – at least until the track began to dry out and the potential for a switch from intermediates to slick tyres opened up.

Carlos Sainz, Williams (Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images)

Hamilton was one of the early front-runners to take a gamble and bolted on a pair of softs, his resulting pace causing a chain reaction, which sparked life into the sprint.

Verstappen and Antonelli pit on the same lap and the Dutchman was released straight into the path of the former pole sitter, earning a 10-second time penalty that ultimately demoted the world champion to the back of the pack.

Still the incidents continued, with Liam Lawson forcing Fernando Alonso off the track and into the wall, and Carlos Sainz also popping a tyre having clipped the wall.

The Alonso incident fell at the perfect time for Norris, who inherited the lead having come in a lap after Piastri to change tyres.

While a safety car ending may have robbed fans of a full final lap spectacle, Norris took the chequered flag to follow his Miami Grand Prix win here 12 months ago.

Piastri was second and Hamilton, a fan-favourite in America, who has been so down in the dumps for much of the season so far, built on sprint race success in Shanghai by taking third place.

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