Miami Grand Prix Sprint: Lando Norris wins in an eventful Miami Sprint Race

Ria Ann Sam
May 3
3 min read

Updated: May 4

Written by: Ria Ann Sam

Lando Norris wins the Miami Grand Prix Sprint despite the rain and yellow flags. He wins ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton who earns his second Sprint podium of the season.

Yesterday's sprint qualifying saw Kimi Antonelli take pole position for the first time in his F1 career; he became the youngest driver to do so. The championship leader, Oscar Piastri, started behind him, and Lando Norris began in third.

Whilst it looked like an exciting day for Antonelli, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc would have a dismal one. After intense rain, the Monegasque crashed on his way to the grid, effectively ending his sprint race before he could even start. The team are trying to fix his car ahead of qualifying.

Yuki Tsunoda also had issues - after changing his suspension, he was told to start from the pit.

However, due to heavy rain, the race began under the safety car but it was quickly red flagged after drivers complained of low visibility.

The race restarted about 10 minutes later behind the safety car for two laps. In this time, Carlos Sainz made the switch to intermediate tyres; he was previously the only driver on full wets.

When the drivers were free to race, Oscar Piastri was quicker than Kimi Antonelli and overtook him; the Italian unfortunately dropped down to fourth. Despite Race Control noting the incident, nothing further came of it which caused Antonelli to be annoyed. In other areas, Verstappen was also noted by Race Control for a false start, however, he wasn't reprimanded either.

As the track started drying up, Tsunoda was the first driver to pit, and he was followed by the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen. Unfortunately for Verstappen, his team let him go too early and he made contact with Antonelli. He was noted for an unsafe release and handed a 10-second penalty.

Whilst this was happening, Carlos Sainz made contact with the wall where he got a puncture and unfortunately had to DNF. His team will need to work on his car quickly if he wants to take part in qualifying.

Fernando Alonso also crashed out after contact with Liam Lawson; both of these incidents brought out the safety car. The incident will be investigated after the Sprint.

This was a heartbreaking loss for Alonso as he had been on his way to scoring his first points this season.

By pitting under the safety car, Norris was able to retain his lead ahead of his teammate who had already pitted. He came home to take the chequered flag at the track where he earned his first win.

Behind him came Oscar Piastri and, despite having a tricky race, Lewis Hamilton. Alex Albon finished fourth, however, he is to be investigated after the race for a Safety Car infringement. He was followed by George Russel, Lance Stroll, and Liam Lawson, and Verstappen's 10-second time penalty put him down in 17th, and promoted Oliver Bearman to eighth.

Qualifying will take place in a couple of hours (16:00 track time) and we will see who will take pole for Sunday's race. Hopefully, Leclerc, Alonso, and Sainz's cars will be fixed by then.

Update: Several drivers were investigated after the race for various reasons, and their penalties are as follows: