Race report

F1 Miami GP: Lando Norris wins sprint in McLaren 1-2

Norris took McLaren's first win in the 2026 F1 campaign aboard a heavily upgraded MCL40

Lando Norris claimed McLaren’s first victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season by winning the Miami Grand Prix sprint race in a 1-2 for the defending constructors’ champions.

The reigning drivers’ world champion finished 3.7s clear of team-mate Oscar Piastri, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completing the podium after the 19-lap contest around Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

This was the first non-Mercedes victory of the 2026 campaign after the Silver Arrows won the opening three grands prix, plus the Shanghai sprint, but failed to bring many updates to Miami.

That is in contrast to several upgrades that McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull all brought, which was represented in sprint qualifying as Norris pipped Kimi Antonelli to pole with Piastri completing the top three.

Leclerc and Max Verstappen respectively rounded out the top five, while George Russell only mustered sixth, qualifying six tenths off polesitter Norris.

The reigning world champion enjoyed a solid getaway but it was another poor start for Antonelli, who dropped behind Piastri and Leclerc into fourth with Russell and Lewis Hamilton jumping Verstappen.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Brett Farmer / LAT Images via Getty Images

Antonelli did fight back though, trying to force his way past Leclerc into Turns eight and 11 yet the Ferrari driver held firm and took a dim view: “Kimi is so bad at wheel-to-wheel, I feel like we’re going to crash.”

In typical 2026 style that battle would have kept going in ‘yo-yo’ fashion, but changes were made for Miami with the super clipping limit increased to 350kW to decrease the reliance on energy management.

So, instead of keeping with Leclerc, Antonelli actually fell back and was overtaken by team-mate Russell on lap eight at Turn 17, though the Italian regained fourth the following tour.

That was at Turn 11, just seconds before Verstappen overtook Hamilton over the white lines at corner exit.

The Red Bull driver therefore handed sixth back to the seven-time world champion, before finally completing a ‘legal’ move on Hamilton at Turn 17 during lap 10.

By this point, these were the only wheel-to-wheel battles happening, as the top three had streaked clear with a comfortable Norris 2.7s ahead of Piastri who led Leclerc by 1.3s.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

The Ferrari driver subsequently tried to close on Piastri but it was too little, too late, particularly when he went deep at Turn 11 on the penultimate lap. This meant that, in typical sprint race style, drivers largely maintained position across the final tours.

Norris therefore completed a controlled win from pole ahead of Piastri and Leclerc, while Antonelli crossed the line in fourth and 2.5s behind the Monegasque.

The 19-year-old, however, was handed a post-race five-second penalty for track limit infringements, dropping him to sixth behind fourth-placed Russell and Verstappen in fifth.

Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly respectively completed the points positions, the Frenchman continuing a strong start to 2026 for Alpine.

As a result of the penalty, Antonelli’s championship lead over Russell has dropped to seven points, while Leclerc remains third ahead of Hamilton and fifth-placed Norris.

F1 Miami GP - Sprint race results

SPRINT

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Chassis	Engine
1	L. Norris McLaren	1	19	29'15.045		210.599		8	McLaren	Mercedes
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	19	+3.766 29'18.811	3.766	210.148		7	McLaren	Mercedes
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	19	+6.251 29'21.296	2.485	209.852		6	Ferrari	Ferrari
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63	19	+12.951 29'27.996	6.700	209.057		5	Mercedes	Mercedes
5	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	19	+13.639 29'28.684	0.688	208.975		4	Red Bull	Red Bull
6	A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes	12	19	+13.777 29'28.822	0.138	208.959		3	Mercedes	Mercedes
7	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	19	+21.665 29'36.710	7.888	208.031		2	Ferrari	Ferrari
8	P. Gasly Alpine	10	19	+30.525 29'45.570	8.860	206.999		1	Alpine	Mercedes
9	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	19	+35.346 29'50.391	4.821	206.442			Red Bull	Red Bull
10	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	19	+36.970 29'52.015	1.624	206.254			Alpine	Mercedes
11	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	19	+48.438 30'03.483	11.468	204.943			Audi	Audi
12	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	19	+56.972 30'12.017	8.534	203.978			Haas	Ferrari
13	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	19	+57.365 30'12.410	0.393	203.933			Haas	Ferrari
14	C. Sainz Williams	55	19	+58.504 30'13.549	1.139	203.805			Williams	Mercedes
15	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	19	+59.358 30'14.403	0.854	203.709			RB	Red Bull
16	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	19	+1'16.067 30'31.112	16.709	201.851			Aston Martin	Honda
17	S. Perez Cadillac F1 team	11	19	+1'16.691 30'31.736	0.624	201.782			Cadillac	Ferrari
18	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	19	+1'17.626 30'32.671	0.935	201.679			Aston Martin	Honda
19	A. Albon Williams	23	19	+1'28.173 30'43.218	10.547	200.525	1		Williams	Mercedes
20	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 team	77	19	+1'29.597 30'44.642	1.424	200.370			Cadillac	Ferrari
dns	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	0						Audi	Audi
dns	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	0						RB	Red Bull
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