Lando Norris continued his strong start to the weekend as he took victory in the Miami Sprint race.
Before the race even started, the grid lost one competitor as Nico Hulkenberg’s car began smoking along the back straight on the reconnaissance lap, forcing him to retire.
When the lights went green, Norris got off to a great start, managing to hold off the rest of the field to keep hold of first place, becoming the first pole sitter in 2026 to keep the lead out of the first corner.
Alongside Norris, Piastri and Leclerc each also got great launches off the grid, dropping Antonelli from second to fourth.
On lap 2, Antonelli made a half hearted move to regain third place from Leclerc, though the Italian’s driving drew ire from Leclerc, who suggested the two would crash if Antonelli kept driving in the way he had been.
Norris and Piastri had built themselves a comfortable gap early on in the race, where they would be able to dictate the pace throughout the rest of the sprint.
There was some close racing between the cars in the middle of the points paying positions, with the two Mercedes drivers fighting closely for fourth place, which Russell came out on top of.
Furthermore, Hamilton and Verstappen were fighting closely for sixth, with Verstappen even pushing his former championship rival off track to try and take the position on lap 8, which he would quickly have to give back.
Verstappen clearly had the pace Hamilton though, and it would only be two more laps before he would be able to get the move completed, and this time in a legal fashion. Verstappen would be able to keep 6th place for the rest of the race, Hamilton unable to keep up with the Red Bull.
The race was quite processional after that, with minimal action and the two McLarens at the front controlling the race with ease, as Norris came home to take his first victory of the season ahead of the main Grand Prix sessions this weekend.
