Norris wins chaotic Miami sprint

Lando Norris beat McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to win a chaotic wet-dry Miami Grand Prix sprint race with help from the safety car.

Piastri led from lap one after passing pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes at the first corner of the race but the safety car cost the Australian the race win.

The championship leader pitted one lap before Norris as the track dried out but the safety car was sent out while Norris was pitting for his slick tyres.

That slows the cars on track and gave Norris enough time to rejoin in the lead.

The safety car was caused by a crash between Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and Liam Lawson’s Racing Bull at Turn Two but that was not the only drama in the race.

Max Verstappen finished fourth on the road behind Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who benefited from an early pit stop for dry-weather slick tyres, but was penalised 10 seconds for an unsafe release from his pit stop, which caused him to collide with Antonelli.

Verstappen, whose front wing was damaged in the collision, was demoted to 17th and last by the penalty.

The incident was a major blow to Antonelli’s hopes of a good result. It prevented him making his pit stop and he had to rejoin the track and do another lap before pitting again. Antonelli ended up finishing out of the points in ninth.

The race started on a wet track, after a 28-minute delay because of the poor conditions. (BBC)