Raceday Recap: Mercedes Welcomes You To Miami
After 5 weeks away from racing, fans have been eager to see cars back on track. What better race to reenter the F1 season than under the sun in Miami? This sprint weekend is always a fun one, so let’s rewind and look at what happened this Sunday.
After Lando Norris took the sprint pole and then continued on to win the sprint race, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli came back to take pole on Saturday. Max Verstappen joined him on the second row, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Norris behind them. George Russell’s lap in the Mercedes was only fast enough to start P5 on the grid. Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton started the race from 6th, followed by Oscar Piastri in 7th and Franco Colapinto in 8th, a career best qualifying position for the young Argentinian. Colapinto’s teammate Pierre Gasly started from 9th, with Nico Hulkenberg occupying the 10th spot on the grid.
Lando Norris took his first win of the year at the Miami Sprint Race! Photo courtesy of F1.
As always, the first lap of the race saw some drama: Verstappen spun, Leclerc took the lead, Piastri worked his way up to the top 5, and turn 11 saw contact between Colapinto and Hamilton. The next lap, Alex Albon passed Williams teammate Carlos Sainz for P10, while Nico Hulkenberg went into the pits to change his front wing - he never reentered the race. During laps 4-6, Antonelli began sparring with Leclerc for the lead. He finally passed Leclerc into turn 18 and became the new race leader, but Leclerc took it back on lap 5. Verstappen overtook Colapinto, and Isack Hadjar spun through the turn 14 and 15 chicane, into the wall and out of the race after breaking his car’s suspension trying to achieve the apex. Norris got by Antonelli before Liam Lawson made contact with Gasly’s rear tire, causing the Alpine driver to flip over the track and bring out the safety car as Lawson retired the race. The safety car went in on lap 11, allowing Piastri to take P4 from Russell and Norris to pass Leclerc for the lead of the race, while Verstappen chose to pit for a new set of hard tires. On lap 16, Verstappen made it back into the top ten after his pit stop, getting past Bearman. He then continued to push past Albon for 9th, as Piastri battled Leclerc for third. On lap 22, Leclerc pitted, allowing Piastri to take P3, a risky move based on potential weather. A lap later, Leclerc took 10th from Bearman, complaining on the radio about the questionable pit stop. Russell took 8th from Albon, and Haas told Bearman to stay out instead of coming in for new tires.
On lap 26, Russell began working his way back up, overtaking Sainz for P8. Meanwhile, Norris consistently continued to set the fastest lap. Antonelli went into the pits for medium tires, meaning that Piastri moved to second and Verstappen to third. The commentators declared Verstappen the net race leader if both McLarens were to pit, which Norris did on lap 27, taking Piastri to the lead. Valtteri Bottas was flagged for speeding in the pit lane, while Antonelli came out of the pits in 3rd and Norris came out in 4th. On lap 28, Piastri stopped for new tires, and the FIA announced that Albon and Alonso would be investigated post race for yellow flag infringement. On lap 29, Antonelli took the lead back from Verstappen, and Norris moved to take 2nd, while Bottas served a drive through penalty for his speeding. On lap 35, Piastri battled Russell for 5th place, taking the inside line of Turn 1 and coming out in front after the turn 16 hairpin. Norris began chasing Antonelli for first, while Bottas was shown the black and white flag for ignoring blue flags and refusing to let faster cars by - basically a motorsports version of a yellow card. Alonso received the same warning on lap 48 for disregarding track limits. Norris’ race engineer radioed in on lap 56 to tell him about rear wing damage, and just a few seconds later Piastri joined him in the top three after passing Leclerc. Russell and Verstappen overtook the Ferrari into the last straight, securing themselves a few extra points each.
Kimi Antonelli is on a roll this season! Photo courtesy of Sky Sports F1.
Kimi Antonelli claimed his third win of the season, with papaya drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piasri joining the young rookie on the podium. Mercedes teammate George Russell took 4th, with Max Verstappen in 5th and Lewis Hamilton in 6th. Franco Colapinto had an outstanding weekend and ended up in P7, just ahead of a disappointed Charles Leclerc in P8. The Williams drivers completed the top ten, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon taking home a total of 3 points. Although Leclerc ended the race in 6th, his turn 3 spin on the last lap caused him to cut across the track repeatedly as he attempted to work his way back up, earning him a 20 second penalty and bumping him down to P8.
Overall, this Miami sprint weekend may foreshadow the return of McLaren’s strength, and because Colapinto achieved P7 and both Aston Martin drivers finished the race, the weekend was an overall win for many teams. I’ll be counting down the days until we’re back on track in Montreal - as always, thanks so much for reading. And also, don’t forget to follow @thewinningformulablog on Instagram for weekly creative and fun F1 content!
Lights out and away we go,
Lucy xx
