Formula One - Miami Grand Prix - Bienvenidos a Miami! McLaren take a double win on the grounds of the Hard Rock Stadium!

In the second sprint of the Formula One season, McLaren solidified their dominance, taking both the Sprint and Feature race wins, and finishing 1-2 in both as well.

Photo: Mercedes-Benz

SPRINT QUALIFYING

In the first competitive session of the weekend it was Antonelli who led the way following the first runs, the rookie Mercedes F1 driver in his first competitive session at the Miami Grand Prix circuit proving that he wasn’t afraid of the fast, twisting street circuit.

Out in SQ1: Stroll, Doohan, Tsunoda, Bortoleto, Bearman

Only half of the remaining drivers took to the track for the first runs of SQ2, those who had used two sets of tires to make it through SQ1 trying to save fresh sets for a potential SQ3 appearance. At the halfway point it was Piastri topping the timing sheets, with Norris and Verstappen close behind.

Out in SQ2: Hulkenberg, Ocon, Gasly, Lawson, Sainz

George Russell and Max Verstappen were the only drivers to take to the track for the first runs of SQ3, both on new tires having gotten through SQ1 and SQ2 on two sets. Russell proved to be the faster, which left Verstappen three tenths behind the Mercedes driver and with no new sets of tires, the Dutchman's hopes were not looking high. Andrea Kimi Antonelli took the sprint pole position, becoming the youngest Formula One pole sitter at eighteen years, eight months and seven days old.

Top 10: Antonelli, Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Albon, Hadjar, Alonso

Photo: Bryn Lennon

SPRINT RACE

Before the Sprint Race could even get underway, Charles Leclerc found himself in the wall. Ferrari had sent him out on the intermediate tyre for the lap to the grid and the Ferrari driver aquaplaned into the wall coming towards turn eleven, Leclerc was unable to get the car back to the grid and was officially scored as a DNS.

Once Leclerc’s car had been cleared the start procedure officially began, multiple laps behind the Safety Car would prove that it was too wet to get the race started, visibility being a key issue especially on the straight where the cars produce the most spray. The start procedure was officially cancelled and delayed for half an hour.

Half an hour later the cars rolled out the pitlane again to try and start a now truncated sprint race, the FIA taking into account the multiple laps behind Safety Car and the additional formation laps so that there was not a risk of cars being under fuelled and not making it to the finish. With the track drying in the Floridian heat there was speculation that the end of the race would call for slick tires before the lights had even gone out.

The race start was chaotic with Antonelli dropping from his maiden pole position to fourth coming out of turn one, Piastri, Norris and Verstappen all capitalising on the rookie's poor start in the wet to move themselves up the order. Lawson, meanwhile, got an incredible launch and found himself in ninth by the end of the first lap from his starting position of fourteenth. On lap four Piastri was the first to raise the hopes of the fans when he said “it’s drying very quickly” on the team radio. Later that same lap Piastri was noted for his move on Antonelli at the first corner but the FIA quickly ruled that there was no further action that needed to be taken regarding the incident.

Photo: Steven Tee

The first of the top ten to make the call for slick tyres was Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time World Drivers Champion pitting for new soft tyres on lap twelve. A lap later Max Verstappen came into the pitlane and, in a rare pitlane gaff for Red Bull, was released into the side of Antonelli’s Mercedes. The Red Bull picked up wing damage with the loss of the front wing endplate and the young Mercedes rookie was forced to complete another lap before attempting to pit again.

In the drying conditions Sainz was the first to suffer, with the Spaniard clipping the inside wall at the chicane and picking up a puncture. Whilst he was able to get the car back to the pitlane, the damage was too severe and the Williams was forced to retire from the sprint race. Piastri was the first of the McLarens to come into pitlane from the lead, promoting Norris to the lead until the next lap when he also came down pitlane. Crucially an on-track collision involving Alonso and Lawson brought out the Safety Car whilst Norris was still on pitlane, promoting the British driver ahead of his Australian team mate in the late stages of the race. 

Whilst under Safety Car the FIA gave a ten-second time penalty to Max Verstappen for his unsafe release into Antonelli and as the race ended under Safety Car this dropped him all the way to the back of the field. In the end it was a McLaren 1-2, although not the order that everyone thought it would be following the first twelve laps. Norris took his second win around the streets of Miami, with Piastri and Hamilton rounding out the podium positions. 

After the race there were more penalties handed out with Lawson receiving five seconds for causing a collision with Alonso, Albon receiving five seconds for being too slow under the Safety Car and Bearman receiving five seconds for an unsafe release involving Hulkenberg.

Final Top Eight: Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Russell, Stroll, Hadjar, Antonelli, Gasly

Photo: Zak Mauger

FEATURE RACE QUALIFYING

After the first runs it was Piastri who led the way ahead of, yet again, Verstappen and Norris. The Australian driver keen to stamp his authority back on the session after having the win ripped out of his hands the previous night. A flurry of quick laps from the likes of Hadjar, Sainz, Albon and Antonelli threatened to upset the order towards the end of Q1 but in the end it was a similar result to sprint qualifying one.

Out in Q1: Hulkenberg, Alonso, Gasly, Stroll, Bearman

In qualifying two Piastri was yet again the early pace-setter, ahead of teammate Norris and Antonelli. A poor final run from Lewis Hamilton saw him lock up in the final corner and miss Q3 to the disappointment of all Ferrari fans.

Out in Q2: Hadjar, Hamilton, Bortoleto, Doohan, Lawson

The first runs in qualifying three saw Max Verstappen top his first qualifying session of the weekend, closely followed by Norris and Piastri. On the final runs all three of the top three would make a mistake, Verstappen had a major snap of oversteer coming out of turn one but was still fastest overall in sector one and gained two tenths on his lap. Lando Norris looked like he was just going to pip Verstappen to the top of the grid but took an excessive amount of kerb on the inside of the final corner and finished just sixty-five thousandths behind Verstappen. Piastri suffered from a poor middle sector and finished almost two tenths behind Verstappen.

Top 10: Verstappen, Norris, Antonelli, Piastri, Russell, Sainz, Albon, Leclerc, Ocon, Tsunoda

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

FEATURE RACE

As the green flag waved in Miami, Max Verstappen had a poor launch and then went deep at turn one, Lando Norris got a switchback but was then on the outside in the kink at turn two. Norris appeared to be fully alongside when he was forced off track by Max Verstappen, but the FIA ruled that there had been no breach of the regulations during the scrap at the beginning of the race. The contact saw Antonelli and Piastri move into the podium positions in second and third respectively. Before the first lap was over the first yellow flag was flying, a replay of turn one showing that Doohan and Lawson had contact at turn one which eventually caused a terminal puncture on Doohan’s Alpine.

There was a short Virtual Safety Car at the start of lap two, and on lap four the green flag flew again. Almost immediately Piastri overtook Antonelli for second on the road and just moments later Norris made an identical move to get himself into the top five. Lap five and lap six were calm apart from various radio messages hinting at rain coming in the next fifteen to twenty laps. On lap seven Norris moved up to fourth as teams warned drivers that if rain was going to hit it would be extreme wet weather. 

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

After an extended battle Oscar Piastri finally managed to move past Max Verstappen into turn one on lap fourteen, the Australian driver managing to bait Verstappen into going deep. On lap sixteen Lando Norris attempted the same move but went off track whilst doing it and had to forfeit the place at the end of lap seventeen. Norris managed to finally make the move on lap eighteen to move into second behind teammate Oscar Piastri. On lap twenty-seven Max Verstappen was the first of the top three to come into the pitlane, just two laps later Ollie Bearman suffered from an engine failure. The Virtual Safety Car was called and Piastri, Norris and Russell all came into the pitlane, pitting under the VSC promoted Russell to third, just ahead of Max Verstappen

On lap thirty-one the green flag waved once again and both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz moved up to fifth and seventh place respectively at turn one. Tsunoda was also noted for speeding in the pitlane under the VSC and received a 5 second penalty. Just a few laps later Bortoleto was forced to retire with an engine failure, shortly followed by Lawson courtesy of the damage he picked up during the crash with Doohan. In the closing stages of the race Carlos Sainz dropped behind both of the Ferraris after being aggressively overtaken by Leclerc. 

Photo: Chandan Khanna

As the checkered flag flew, Oscar Piastri crossed the line first, and took his fifth career victory. Norris and Russell followed him to round out the podium positions after a race that promised rain that in the end never came.

The post race news of Doohan losing his seat at Alpine, being replaced by Colapinto and Oliver Oakes departing as team principal, his role being taken over by the infamous Flavio Briatore. Rumours were flying about the reasons for Oakes departure, as tension within the team prevailed as the leading belief until it was revealed that Oakes’ brother was arrested outside the Alpine HQ in Silverstone.

ONTO IMOLA

Looking forward to the Emilia Romanga Grand Prix at the infamous Imola circuit, it seems that the race will be dominated by McLaren once again. The rest of the pack hopes they will be higher with the temperamental weather in the region, which could shake up the order.

Oscar Piastri leads the drivers’ championship with 131 points, sixteen points ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris, while Max Verstappen sits on 99 points, with George Russell following closely behind with 93 points. McLaren sit on 246 points after Miami, and increase their advantage over Mercedes to 105 points. Red Bull Racing are once again third, with 105 points.