Lando Norris in the Miami sprint ahead of Oscar Piatri-Diepresse.com

Lando Norris won the Formula 1 sprint in Miami. On a slightly wet route, the Brit prevailed on Saturday in front of its McLaren teammate and World Cup leader Oscar Piatri. Seven-fold world champion Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari drove over the finish line in Ferrari after only 18 laps. Kimi Antonelli missed the points length in Mercedes as just tenth. The qualifying for the race followed later on the same day (10 p.m. CEST).

Pole-Sitter Antonelli lost three positions right after the start, in the first curve he left the route in a fair duel with Piatri. Norris and Max Verstappen also passed the Italian. With simultaneous pit stops of Verstappen and Antonelli there was later a collision between the two. Verstappen got the go signal far too early when Antonelli was about to drive past him in the pit lane. Both were able to continue, but the Dutch with a badly damaged front wing. In addition, he got a ten-second penalty, which ultimately was only 17th and last.

Norris in Safety-Car-Glück

At the end it got even more turbulent: Carlos Sainz had tire damage in Williams and Fernando Alonso flew off the route in Aston Martin. That is why the Safety Car drove on the track, Norris returned from his pit stop just in time, while the Australian Piatri, who had recently completed his stop, was braked decisively. Hamilton was at the third place after a brave change of tire. The race also came to an end behind the Safety Car.

« My luck in Miami seems to be pretty good at the moment, so I’m satisfied, » Norris reacted satisfied. « You have to go to the box early, like Lewis, or stay outside and hope for a safety car. I would prefer that if that happened morning, but I take it. » The Norris World Cup deficit on Piatri decreased by a counter to nine points.

Leclerc ferrari broken before start

The usual starting procedure had been broken off due to the poor view on wet route, it only started with a good half an hour late. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was no longer there. He had demolished his car on the round towards the starting line -up during an impact and gave his mechanics extra layers. A rain shower had dropped shortly before the sprint. (APA)