After several close calls and numerous second-place finishes, Lando Norris of McLaren defeated all odds to win the Miami Grand Prix, marking his maiden triumph in the Formula One championship.
For Ferrari, Charles Leclerc completed the podium, followed in second place by Max Verstappen.
Verstappen was the one who easily held onto the lead from pole when the lights went out in Miami. However, Sergio Perez’s massive inside lunge caught the cars behind off guard. In Turn 1, the Mexican driver locked up his inside front wheel and just missed Verstappen. Due to their avoidance strategies, Sainz and Norris allowed Leclerc to hold onto second place and Piastri to advance into third. Norris was sixth, followed by Sainz and Perez, then Hulkenberg, Hamilton,Tsunoda and Russell after the latter also lost three positions.
Most automobiles were initially equipped with medium compound tires. In contrast to Hamilton, Alonso, Magnussen, and Ricciardo, who all started the Miami Grand Prix with the toughest Pirelli possible, only Bottas had chosen to start the race with the softs.
After setting the fastest lap on lap three, Piastri’s McLaren team managed to pass Leclerc’s Ferrari, which was in second place, near Turn 17 at the end of the lengthy straightaway on the next lap. This maneuver put Leclerc squarely in Sainz’s path, with Perez trailing him by just one more second. Even though Sainz appeared to have more pace in hand, Leclerc was able to keep him at bay by staying within Piastri’s DRS range.
Further behind Hamilton managed to take 7th place from Hulkenberg after a very close fight but he saw Hulkenberg pass again when Hamilton missed his braking point at Turn 17. That wasn’t great news for Hamilton as it was clear that Hulkenberg was a whole lot slower than the cars ahead while Russell, Tsunoda, Gasly, Alonso, Albon and Ocon were all fairly close behind. In lap 10 Hamilton got it done again in Turn 12, this time with a little less aggressive defending from Hulkenberg.
In the congested group of vehicles, Sargeant and Bottas followed Stroll to the pits in the twelfth lap. Just like Albon did on the previous lap, all three of them used hard tires. After one lap, Hulkenberg and Gasly followed suit.
Lando Norris was posing a serious threat to Perez for fifth place, as he had lost contact with the Ferraris ahead. However, Sainz persisted in telling Ferrari why he thought a change in course was necessary, and sure enough, on lap 16, Leclerc turned in the quickest lap to put further pressure on Piastri.
Of the top six, Perez was the first to pit. He changed to a new set of hard tires in 1.9 seconds after exiting the track right in front of Norris. Tenth on the restart, between Ocon and Alonso, was Perez. After getting rid of Perez, Norris quickly picked up the pace and surpassed Leclerc’s quickest lap, cutting the gap with Sainz by 4 tenths even though the Spaniard also set a new personal best.
On lap 20, Leclerc changed to hard tires and came back onto the circuit just a second or two behind Hamilton. The top three all achieved personal best times, with Norris once again setting the fastest time. After passing Hamilton after one lap, Leclerc proceeded to refine the fastest lap once again.
Next up was a scare for Max Verstappen as he missed Turn 14 and clipped off the cone on the apex. It was carried by his car right into Turn 16 where it rolled off the Red Bull and onto the middle of the track. To clear it a Virtual Safety Car was instated, triggering severalpitstops, including one for Verstappen, Ocon, Alonso and Magnussen. Russell pitted one lap later and dropped from 7th to 12th position.
Behind them, Sainz momentarily seemed to have gotten past Piastri for 4th place but the Australian came back under braking and pushed the Ferrari wide to keep his position, a move “noted” by the stewards. Sainz insisted he had to be given the position while McLaren told Piastri to hold position, leaving Sainz with no option but to calm down and try again.
Having expressed his unbelief in the lack of penalty repeatedly, Sainz made another move at the end of lap 39 and eventually got past the Australian McLaren driver in Turn 1 of lap 40. Piastri went wide there and subsequently found himself missing some downforce, losing positions to Perez and Hamilton before pitting for a new front wing. Brief contact with Sainz’s rear wheel damaged the McLaren front wing at Turn 17, resulting in a drop to 19th, or otherwise last.
In front, Norris was simply very fast right from the restart and consistently build up his lead to Verstappen. On lap 42, with 15 remaining, he led by 3.4 seconds. The gap continued to increase slightly every lap, eventually resulting in the first Grand Prix victory for Lando Norris, one that everybody knew was coming sooner or later after a few near misses.
The other McLaren of Oscar Piastri meanwhile recorded the fastest lap of the race.