It’s time for a wet Miami GP F1 Sprint Race ! Will Mercedes’ rookie Kimi Antonelli manage to maintain his edge and secure his maiden Formula 1 victory after his yesterday’s formidable pole in the sprint qualifying session?
Charles Leclerc is out of this second sprint race of the season, after crashing on his way to the grid amid heavy rain. Only 19 drivers will therefore take to the track for the Miami Sprint. As rain is falling on the Miami International Autodrome, all drivers will sport intermediate tyres behind the safety car.
Red flag before the start
The red flag was brought out before the race even started as the start procedure was suspensed due to poor visibility.
Even though the start procedure is interrupted due to poor weather conditions, the intermediate remains the race tyre as the track dries out over the course of 19 laps. Under red flag procedure, drivers are allowed to fix damage and change their tyres. Carlos Sainz leveraged this hiatus to change his full wet tyres for intermediate ones under the red flag.
It’s lights out in Miami
Once the red flag ended and the track deemed fit to race on, Antonelli led the other 18 drivers to the almost dry track behind the safety car for the first two laps.
As the safety car went back in the pits, the race direction cleared the track for a standing start. With a quick reaction time, Piastri got to the apex first in corner 1 causing Antonelli to immediately lose three places as he went off the track. Both McLarens therefore found themselves ahead of the Mercedes driver while Verstappen also overtook Antonelli on the opening lap.
Further challenging the rookie, Russell battled his teammate for P4 although he promptly backed out and remained in fifth.
Meanwhile, Lawson and Stroll impressively made up 5 positions one lap in the Miami GP Sprint Race.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz battled Esteban Ocon for 12th position, though failing to hold on to the outside line. He could not overtake the Haas driver. Sainz successfully attempted to overtake the Frenchman again down the inside on lap 5. Ocon however retook the place from him again a couple of corners later. The battle continued on until the Spaniard however veered off course and Haas’ Ocon remained in P12.
A drying track
As the track slowly dried out, the degrading intermediate tyre appeared less interesting of an option for the bottom drivers that could afford to take a chance on a slick tyre. No mandatory tyre change is imposed for this Miami GP F1 Sprint race.
Being out of the points, Yuki Tsunoda gambled and pitted for medium tyres on lap 11 in a slick tyre cross-over.
Clearly displeased with his intermediate tyres, Lewis Hamilton then became the first of the front runners to enter the pitlane to fit slick tyres on with 6 laps to go in the race.
Still on intermediate tyres and ahead of everyone else, the McLaren drivers battled each other for the lead of the race and incidentally of the driver championship.
A high-stakes misstep
As Verstappen was unsafely released from the pitlane, he made contact with Antonelli, therefore sustaining damage to his frontwing. The Dutchman was consequently imposed a 10 second time penalty. Owing to this contact, Antonelli was unable to reach the Mercedes team and lost time to a useless run through the pitlane.
Sainz’s machine suffered a puncture, therefore briefly bringing out the yellow flag. The Spaniard consequently pitted and was then forced to retire the car.
The final crucial laps of the Sprint
Following what turned out to be a strategic call, Hamilton climbed up into fourth position on lap 14 of the Sprint after overtaking his rival Verstappen.
With only four laps remaining in the Sprint, McLaren pitted Lando Norris. Simultaneously, Alonso found the barriers at turn 12, consequently bringing out the safety car in a crucial timing for Norris. In a decisive moment of the race, Norris reached the control line before his teammate, thus taking the lead of the race.
As the Miami GP F1 Sprint race ended behind the safety car, Norris reached the finish line first with his teammate Piastri 0.672s behind in second. Hamilton held firm to take third while Verstappen came home in fourth. He will however have to serve his 10-second penalty and fall 17th in the rankings as a result.
Albon in fifth led Russell across the line, followed by Stroll in seventh. Lawson rounded out the points finishers of the F1 Miami GP Sprint Race.
Miami GP Sprint Race results
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Lewis Hamilton
- Alex Albon
- George Russell
- Lance Stroll
- Liam Lawson
- Ollie Bearman
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Kimi Antonelli
- Pierre Gasly
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Isack Hadjar
- Esteban Ocon
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Jack Doohan
- Max Verstappen
*UPDATED: Alex Albon (Safety Car infringement), Liam Lawson (collison with Alonso) and Ollie Bearman (unsafe release) all got post-Sprint penalties of 5-seconds. Tsunoda, Antonelli and Gasly move up three spots to P6, P7 and P8. George Russell and Lance Stroll move up to 4th and 5th.
