#F1: @LandoNorris cruises to dominant #MiamiGP #F1Sprint victory.

Norris Miami Sprint Victory – Lando Norris claimed victory in the Miami GP Sprint and leading team-mate Oscar Piastri to bring home a McLaren one-two as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three. Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli crossed the line fourth – but was hit with a five-second-timed-penalty at the end of the race for repeatedly exceeding track limits and fell to sixth in the order.

The upgraded McLaren has brought them back into the fight out-front and this was Norris’s third Sprint victory.

Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg was unable to make the start of the Sprint due to a power-unit issue on the sighting laps to the grid.

When the 19-lap Miami GP F1 Sprint began, pole-sitter Norris got a solid getaway along with Piastri who jumped into second on the rundown into the turn one right-hander.

Antonelli dropped behind Leclerc into fourth after a terrible start, but the Italian kept the Ferrari driver honest on the run to the turn 11 left-hander, but the Monegasque driver held position.

The beginning of the second lap saw Norris’s lead over team-mate Piastri at 1.1 seconds with Leclerc third, Antonelli fourth, Russell fifth, Hamilton sixth, Verstappen seventh as Gasly completed the top eight.

Antonelli was looking very, very fast – that Mercedes in race trim looked class again. The Bologna-born-Italian had a look at Leclerc, but nothing doing into the opening corner. He had another look in the middle sector, which allowed Russell to close in.

Lap three – Conditions were tricky out there, the wind had picked up. Hamilton was flying in sixth place, and he was just 0.3 seconds behind his former team-mate. Scraps up and down the field, but everyone needed to hold onto their tyres as the track temperatures rose up to a blistering 53 Degrees.

Out-front – Norris held 1.3 second lead over his team-mate Piastri, Leclerc was also 1.3 seconds behind the Australian.

The fourth tour – The rear tyres were the angry ones, and drivers already appeared to be starting to manage. Norris’ lead increased to 1.5 seconds, as Leclerc took two tenths out of Piastri.

Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad was in the pits – he came in to retire with reliability hampering his weekend thus far.

The fifth lap – Norris was showing team-mate Piastri solid push, and the Australian was doing something similar to Leclerc.

But Antonelli in fourth was the man on the move, as he kept pushing Leclerc hard. The Mercedes driver cannot force the Ferrari man into a mistake though and could not find any space to attempt and sneak past – even with his Boost button.

Russell was keeping his team-mate honest, and Hamilton was keeping in touch with the two Mercedes drivers.

Lap six – There was a technical issue on Lindblad’s car according to the RB team, so he never actually took the start from the pit-lane.

Liam Lawson his team-mate was down in 17^th, so this was not going to plan for Racing Bulls who could see Alpine score today with Gasly in eighth place.

The seventh lap – “I can’t really brake, the rear axle is jumping up and down,” explained Verstappen, who was 1.2 seconds behind Hamilton in the battle for sixth. The wind was picking up out there again, making things tricky for the drivers who have to try and judge the braking points accordingly.

Norris still leading, by a full two seconds now over Piastri.

Lap eight –Antonelli was over a second behind Leclerc, and he turned from attack to defence – Russell was all over the back of him. Russell overtook his team mate on the straight before turn 1. Did Antonelli let him through? No as he tried to fight back into turn 1.

And Antonelli cleverly bided his time and picked off Russell into the turn 11 left-hander.

The ninth lap – Verstappen managed to pick off Hamilton but was told to give the place back as he was off-track when he completed the move. Neither driver massively happy there, with Hamilton somehow still in sixth and the Red Bull driver seventh.

Lap 10 – Into Turn 17, Verstappen made the move work with assistance by the Boost button. And he had conserved some energy too, so did not look immediately vulnerable to a Hamilton fightback.

There was less than a second between the pairing, so Hamilton should have Boost next time around.

Lap 11 – It looked like some of the bargeboard of Esteban Ocon’s Haas had flown off onto the track, which his team-mate Oliver Bearman then seemed to run over. No sign of a Safety Car, with much of that debris off the racing line at this stage.

Up-front, Norris lead by three seconds from Piastri as McLaren were in charge out-front.

The 12^th tour – After seemingly dropping back to cool his tyres, Leclerc was back on the attack as he tried to take the battle to Piastri in the fight for second place. But overtaking at Miami is tricky, and the McLaren has the powerful Mercedes engine on board.

The question was could Leclerc find a way up to and then pass Piastri? It would be a tough order with no help from tyre offsets caused through different strategies.

With six laps remaining Norris’s lead was at 3.1 seconds over Piastri with Leclerc a further second behind the Australian in third, Antonelli fourth, Russell fifth, Verstappen sixth, Hamilton seventh as Gasly rounded out the points-paying-places.

Gasly looked on course to score a point, as he held a four second gap to his Alpine team-mate Colapinto behind. Alpine were having a solid afternoon, but they were off the pace of the big four teams.

Meanwhile in the pit-lane, Williams are ready for one of their cars – with a new front wing. Which was for Alexander Albon.

Lap 14 – Norris was leading by 3.2 seconds, Piastri had a 0.9 second advantage over Leclerc and Antonelli has fallen way back.

The 15^th tour – Leclerc was doing everything he can to catch and overtake Piastri – the Ferrari being generally quite good on its tyres. But both have been in dirty air for much of the Sprint, so how much rubber does the Ferrari man really have left was the question.

The gap was down to 0.6 seconds.

The 16^th lap – Cat and mouse between the pairing, as Leclerc closed in, realises he did not have enough power to try a move, and dropped back to cool his tyres. The Monegasque driver was running out of time – just three laps to go after this one.

Lap 17 – Hadjar had not been a match for his team-mate Verstappen so far this weekend, but he was trying to prove his fighting instincts out there. He had the Boost to his advantage, and he overtook Colapinto into turn four. But now he was defending hard from the Argentine.

Those two were quite far back from Gasly and the final points place.

The penultimate lap – The gaps between the front runners were getting bigger not smaller – so the man to watch was Colapinto, who was trying to fight back against Hadjar. But he dropped back and lost the Boost button.

Leclerc had just run wide and dirtied up his tyres, which bought Piastri even more breathing room in the battle for second.

Norris crossed the line take the Miami GP Sprint victory by 3.766 seconds ahead of Piastri as Leclerc completed the top three runners.

Antonelli reached the chequered flag as the lead Mercedes in fourth place in-front of Russell whilst Verstappen took sixth place. However – *Championship leader Antonelli was hit with a five-second-timed-penalty for exceeding track limits so the Italian drops to sixth in the classification behind team-mate Russell and Red Bulls’ Verstappen. *

Hamilton came home seventh for Ferrari as Gasly completed the points-paying-positions for Alpine.

You can see the full Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2026 F1 Sprint Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 CRYPTO.COM MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2026 – SPRINT

2026 Miami GP F1 Sprint – The Top Three

2026 Miami GP Sprint Winner – Lando Norris, #4, Mastercard McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL40 – (8 Points):

“It was a good Sprint, nice to be back on the top step. Our [upgrades] have really helped. It was hot out there, it was sweaty, I was still pushing. A nice start to the weekend, but now I have to do it all again.”

2^nd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, Mastercard McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL40 – +3.766s – (7 Points):

“I think obviously a little bit to find to try and stay with Lando, but overall, a good day.”

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari HP, SF-26 – +6.251s – (6 Points):

“The upgrades worked well, thanks to the team for their massive work. I am satisfied with that; I am not satisfied with P3 but McLaren have done a big step forward. Hopefully we can start higher [tomorrow] and make our life a bit easier.”

Click here for the 2026 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings