Lando Norris returned to winning form with victory in the Miami Grand Prix sprint on Saturday as McLaren sealed a one two finish with Oscar Piastri in second.
The British driver led from pole and stayed in control throughout the 100 kilometre race at Hard Rock Stadium. He crossed the line 3.7 seconds ahead of Piastri to claim his first win since Brazil last November.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third after starting fourth in the first Formula One race since April’s forced break caused by the Iran war and the cancellation of Middle East rounds.
Mercedes lost their unbeaten run this season as Kimi Antonelli and George Russell finished fourth and fifth on track. But Antonelli was later handed a five second penalty for repeated track limits violations. That dropped the young Italian to sixth and moved Russell up to fourth.
The penalty also cut Antonelli’s championship lead over Russell to seven points. Antonelli now has 75 points, with Russell on 68 and Leclerc on 55. Norris moved to 33 points in fifth overall.
Red Bull star Max Verstappen was promoted to fifth, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton took seventh. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly claimed the final point in eighth.
“Nice to be back on the top step. A good day for us,” Norris said.
“I was pushing, trying to find that balance of pushing and staying relaxed to not make mistakes. A good start to the weekend but now I’ve got to do it all over again.”
Norris repeated his Miami sprint success from 2025 at the same venue where he earned his first Formula One win in 2024.
Before the podium celebrations, the top three observed a minute’s silence for former racer Alex Zanardi, who died on Saturday at 59.
Antonelli struggled at the start after dropping from second to fourth and later admitted his errors cost him.
“We need to check what happened. The grip was very low, probably lower than we expected,” Antonelli said.
“After that, I was really frustrated and didn’t even drive well. I did a lot of mistakes and got track limits, which is something I need to avoid.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said his team paid the price for not bringing upgrades as quickly as rivals.
“It’s going to be a development race through the year and whoever brings a few tenths earlier will have the advantage,” said the Austrian.
Elsewhere, Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad failed to start because of a technical issue, while Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi caught fire on the way to the grid.
