World champion Lando Norris won the sprint in Miami when Formula 1 returned. The McLaren driver celebrated his first win of the season on Saturday in the US state of Florida, beating his teammate Oscar Piastri from Australia.
Charles Leclerc secured third place in a Ferrari – but after the long Formula 1 break due to the war in the Middle East, there is no sign of the previous Mercedes dominance.
“It was a good race. It’s nice to be at the top again, even if it’s just a sprint,” said Norris: “It’s a good start to the weekend.”
The first difficult weekend of the year continued for the Silver Arrows. George Russell inherited fourth place from championship leader Kimi Antonelli because he left the track too often and received a five-second time penalty. The Italian fell back to sixth place.
Red Bull star Max Verstappen moved up to fifth place, record world champion Lewis Hamilton was in seventh place in the second Ferrari.
McLaren thus underlined its own upward trend; the numerous updates seem to work very well in combination with the new adjustments to the regulations.
Norris, who celebrated a start-to-finish victory, will go into qualifying in the evening (10:00 p.m. CEST) as the big favorite. The Miami Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on Sunday at 10:00 p.m. CEST (Sky), but the start could take place earlier due to a forecast of severe weather.
Minute’s silence for Zanardi
Before the race, the former Formula 1 driver Alessandro “Alex” Zanardi was remembered with a minute’s silence. The Italian, who drove in the premier class for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams from 1991 to 1999, died unexpectedly on May 1st at the age of 59.
Zanardi lost both legs as a result of a racing accident at the Lausitzring 25 years ago. He began a second sports career with the handbike and won four gold medals at the Paralympic Games, and he also returned to the racetrack in the WTTC touring car championship.
Hülkenberg car catches fire
When the focus turned back to the sporting events, the focus was initially on Nico Hülkenberg. On the way to the starting grid, a lot of smoke came out of his Audi and then flames even formed. The Emmericher parked the car and climbed out of the cockpit, the wait for the first World Cup points of the year continues.
While Norris defended first place at the start, Antonelli had problems again and had to let Piastri and Leclerc pass. As a result, there were hardly any overtaking maneuvers at first, and the action only increased in the middle of the race. Antonelli defended his position in the team’s internal duel with Russell, Verstappen passed Hamilton after several attempts. Meanwhile, Norris drove confidently towards victory at the front.
