Lando Norris delivered McLaren a commanding Sprint victory at the Miami International Autodrome, beating team mate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the 2026 Miami Grand Prix weekend’s 19-lap dash. The reigning world champion converted pole and controlled proceedings throughout, while a late penalty for Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli reshaped the lower points.
From the front row, Norris launched cleanly and steadily edged away, building a cushion over Piastri and Leclerc and keeping well clear of the busy fights behind. Mercedes’ day turned on Antonelli’s tricky getaway, which dropped him from second to fourth, before he and George Russell swapped positions a couple of times in their intra-team duel.
Antonelli ultimately finished behind Russell after their scrap, and the championship leader was relegated to sixth after the flag for a track-limits violation. That promoted Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to fifth, the Dutchman having earlier gone wheel-to-wheel with the other Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton in a pair of robust exchanges.
At the flag, Norris stopped the clocks in 29:15.045, 3.766s clear of Piastri and 6.251s ahead of Leclerc. Russell finished fourth at +12.951s, with Verstappen classified fifth at +13.639s following Antonelli’s penalty.
Audi’s hopes took a hit before the start when Nico Hulkenberg’s car caught fire on the way to the grid, leaving his P12 slot empty. Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, set to start from the pit lane, never made it out on track.
Further back, Gabriel Bortoleto’s strong launch faded to 11th, ahead of the Haas pairing of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman. Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson led the way for Williams and Racing Bulls in 14th and 15th respectively, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll finished 16th and 18th after gambling on soft tyres rather than the preferred mediums.
Cadillac’s first home F1 race ended with Sergio Perez 17th and Valtteri Bottas 20th. Williams’ Alex Albon was 19th after a late front-wing change.
After a five-week break, F1 returned on Friday with a dramatic Sprint Qualifying session that checked Mercedes’ dominant early-season run. With upgraded McLarens, both Ferraris and Verstappen’s Red Bull all in the fight, Norris took pole ahead of Antonelli and Piastri. Post-session changes shuffled the grid: Albon fell from 14th to 19th for track limits, while Lindblad was moved from 15th to a pit-lane start after mechanics worked on his car beyond the permitted ‘covers-on’ time.
What’s next: attention turns to the remainder of the Miami weekend as teams aim to translate Sprint form into stronger results in the sessions still to come.
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*Originally published on [News Formula 1](https://newsformula.one/article/norris-wins-miami-sprint-as-piastri-leclerc-follow). Visit for full coverage.*
