Lando Norris led from start to finish to secure a commanding victory in the Miami sprint. After retaining the lead off the start, Norris ran virtually untroubled for the entirety of the sprint.
Behind him, there were incidents aplenty. Oscar Piastri jumped up to second off the start and held the place for the remainder of the sprint, underlying McLaren’s significant performance gains. The Australian later said there was “a little bit to find’ if he was to catch his teammate.
Charles Leclerc maintained third off the start, passing Kimi Antonelli but losing out to Piastri. The Monegasque gave serious chase in the closing stages before running off track at turn 11 on the penultimate lap and calling time on his pursuit. Leclerc later said he was dissatisfied with P3 and acknowledged McLaren’s progress.
Antonelli suffered yet another bad start (one he later said had to be re-examined with the team) that cost him second place. He was passed by his teammate George Russell on lap seven but regained fourth on lap eight. Antonelli maintained the place to the end but received a post-race five-second time penalty for violating track limits. This dropped him to sixth and cut his championship lead to seven points.
Russell inherited fourth place while Max Verstappen was promoted to fifth. The Red Bull driver suffered yet another poor launch and banged wheels with both Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly and eventually lost sixth place to the seven-time world champion.
Struggling with brake issues, Verstappen made what appeared to be the definitive pass on lap eight, only to run both himself and Hamilton off the track. The four-time world champion was ordered to hand the place back, but repassed Hamilton on lap 10.
Further back, Pierre Gasly bailed out of what could have been a nasty first corner incident and later secured the final points-paying position in eighth, one place ahead of Isack Hadjar, who made an opportunistic pass on Franco Colapinto on lap 17.
Gabriel Bortoleto started and finished 11th ahead of Esteban Ocon, who fended off the advances of both his teammate Ollie Bearman (who was lucky to avoid a puncture after running over debris on lap ten) as well as the two Williams of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon. Albon pitted for a new front wing on lap 14 and eventually finished 19th.
Sergio Perez spent much of the race in 16th behind Liam Lawson but was passed by Fernando Alonso on the final lap.
Valtteri Bottas was the last car over the line, while Nico Hulkenberg and Arvid Lindblad failed to make the start due to mechanical issues.
McLaren’s upgrades have paid dividends both over one lap and over the course of a sprint race. Though it remains to be seen whether or not the reigning constructors’ champions will be able to carry this form through to qualifying and the race itself.
However, if preliminary indications are anything to go by, it's that McLaren have closed the gap to established frontrunners Mercedes.
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