Oscar Piastri continues to dominate with his third straight win at the Miami Grand Prix. Teammate Lando Norris, who secured the sprint victory the day before, finished behind Piastri in second, with Mercedes’ George Russell in third. Piastri left Miami with two trophies, taking second behind Norris in the sprint. Third place in the sprint went to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. McLaren were the undeniable top performers this weekend, with double 1-2 finishes and a lead of over 100 points in the Constructors Championship over second place Mercedes.
Despite the newly implemented sprint races being promoted as a quick, fun appetizer before the main event for the drivers to pick up a few more points, this year’s sprint race in Miami proved to be a prolonged event due to the rainy conditions. Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his first ever pole position in Formula 1 in sprint qualifying. After beating Piastri by a tenth of a second, the 18 year old Italian driver became the youngest pole sitter in the sport.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ran into trouble before the race even had a chance to begin, drifting into the wall and retiring from the race on his way to his spot on the starting grid. Antonelli dropped to fourth almost immediately after the start of the race, with Piastri, Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen passing him to fight for podium places. While every driver started the race on the intermediate tire due to the wet conditions on track, they were forced to pit a little past midway through the race for slicks as the track rapidly dried up in the unpredictable Miami weather.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz Jr. retired from the sprint after clipping the wall. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso made contact with Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson to send him into the wall and dispatch the safety car. Norris, who was called into the pits nearly simultaneously to Alonso’s incident, led the race behind the safety car to victory.
A handful of penalties given to Verstappen and Haas’s Ollie Bearman for unsafe releases, Williams’ Alex Albon for speed violations under the safety car and Lawson for causing a collision with Alonso shifted the results drastically. At the end of the day, Russell, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, Antonelli and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly managed to pick up points in addition to the podium finishers.
Verstappen bounced back in the qualifying session, out qualifying the McLaren’s for pole position. Antonelli continued to prove his capabilities in putting together a fast lap, out qualifying Piastri for P3 behind Norris. While Verstappen managed to lead the race for the first 14 laps, Piastri overtook him thanks to an early battle that resulted in Norris allowing his teammate and Antonelli to pass through.
Alpine’s Jack Doohan was the first of four drivers to retire from the race, a puncture with Lawson ending his day early and launching a virtual safety car. Lawson would eventually retire later on in the race. Bearman and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto both suffered mechanical issues that resulted in a DNF and virtual safety car for both incidents.
Perhaps one of the most notable incidents of the race happened over the Ferrari radio, with team orders stirring tensions in Hamilton and Leclerc. Leclerc would finish in P7 with Hamilton behind him in P8, but not before Hamilton expressed frustration at being asked to let Leclerc through with five laps left to go. The team orders came after Hamilton’s previous suggestion for the team to allow him to pass Leclerc, who was running on hards compared to Hamilton’s mediums.
Verstappen, Albon and Antonelli finished between the podium finishers and the Ferrari duo at P4, P5 and P6, respectively. Sainz Jr., who attempted to make a last minute lunge on Hamilton, finished in P9 less than a second behind the British driver. Despite a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, Tsunoda managed to pick up the last point in Miami in P10. Norris had the fastest lap of the day, with teammate and winner Piastri winning Driver of the Day. With the win, Piastri extended his lead in the Drivers Championship to 16 points.
The drivers have a break this coming weekend before traveling to Italy for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on May 16-18.
