Lando Norris led a McLaren one-two in what transpired to be a wildly chaotic Sprint Race at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
Changeable weather and a fortuitously timed Safety Car granted Norris victory over McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton benefited massively to finish third.
There was drama even prior to the race start as a torrential downpour soaked the track, culminating in Charles Leclerc aquaplaning into the wall on the run to Turn 11.
The damage to his Ferrari was too substantial to make it around to the grid, resulting in Leclerc, who was due to line up in fifth, being ruled out as he parked his SF-25.
With the track being declared wet, the formation lap started behind the Safety Car with all drivers bar Carlos Sainz in the Williams picking the Intermediate compound.
However, the actual race start was aborted the next time around as Oscar Piastri expressed that the visibility was the worst that he has experienced behind the wheel.
All the cars, excluding Leclerc’s stricken Ferrari, returned to the pit lane and remained there until a revised start time was announced, 28 minutes later than scheduled.
The drivers went back out behind the Safety Car, where two formation laps were completed to grant Race Control to assess whether a standing start was permissible.
That was authorised and Piastri capitalised as a strong launch enabled him to draw alongside pole-sitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the short approach towards Turn 1.
Antonelli tried to hang his Mercedes around the outside, but he went too deep and ran wide, slipping three positions to the McLaren drivers and Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Piastri concluded the opening racing lap with more than a second in hand on team-mate Norris, while Verstappen maintained a similar distance to the sister McLaren.
Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson was the biggest mover, leaping five places to ninth on the first racing lap.
Across the first half of the race, the track began to dry as Piastri began to build a gap over his McLaren team-mate.
By half race distance, that lead had grown to 2.6s, with more than three seconds separating Norris and Verstappen.
The Mercedes duo were a further three seconds back, and there was genuine talk starting about switching from Inters to Slicks.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz, sitting in 13th, on the tail of Haas’ Esteban Ocon, was one of the drivers considering a change.
On Lap 11, Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was the first to make the call, switching onto the Medium Pirellis.
Ferrari and Hamilton were the next to gamble a lap later.
The Briton had been struggling in sixth and opted to put on the Soft Tyres, returning to the action in 16th.
Lance Stroll and Sainz elected to stop for Mediums.
Out front, meanwhile, Norris had closed to within DRS range of Piastri by the end of Lap 12 of 18.
Several runners in the midfield pitted on Lap 13, including some of the front runners: Verstappen and Antonelli, the former being released into the path of the latter.
The Dutchman was handed a 10-second time penalty, and Antonelli was forced to abort his stop and exit pit-lane on the Inters he’d entered on.
Sainz, meanwhile, toured the circuit with a damaged Williams FW47, having clipped the inside wall at the chicane whilst trying to wrestle his slick-shod car in the mixed conditions.
The Spaniard retired as Piastri pitted from the lead, his team-mate continuing, too close to execute a double-stack.
That was a fortuitous move for Norris, who, when he elected to stop, found himself benefiting from a Safety Car deployment as Fernando Alonso crashed out.
The Spaniard was punted out by Lawson at Turn 12, triggering the caution period and Norris emerged from pit lane behind the SC and just ahead of his team-mate.
This proved pivotal for Norris en route to Sprint victory, placing him ahead of Piastri as the field completed the action under caution.
Hamilton, too, was a massive benefactor, with his earlier stop cycling him through to third position.
Verstappen, fourth on the road, was demoted to 17th thanks to his 10-second penalty.
Behind, Alex Albon received a five-second penalty for failing to stay above the minimum time under the Safety Car, falling to 11th in the classification.
This promoted Russell into fourth and Lance Stroll into fifth, as Lawson found himself handed a post-Sprint penalty of five seconds for tagging Alonso.
This demoted the New Zealander to 13th and promoted Tsunoda into sixth.
A final penalty was dished out to Haas’ Oliver Bearman for an unsafe release, dropping him to 14th, meaning Antonelli and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top eight and the final points-paying positions.
READ MORE – Charles Leclerc crashes out en route to F1 Miami Sprint grid
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