Formula 1 in Miami: Alonso's crash gives Norris the win

By the time things really got going, the sprint race in Miami was almost over. But what a turbulent half-hour it was on Saturday afternoon (local time), influenced by the unpredictable Florida weather, the 100-kilometer tour through the parking lot of the local football stadium, which McLaren driver Lando Norris won ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton. "Great work, well done, guys," said Norris, who cruised leisurely to the finish after 18 laps.

After a crash in the closing stages between Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), the race ended with a neutralized finish, behind the safety car. Much to the chagrin of championship leader Oscar Piastri, who had been on course for victory up until that point. "I don't think we should be buying lottery tickets in this place," said the Australian.

A few hours later, in qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix (10:00 p.m. CEST in the FAZ Formula 1 live ticker and on Sky), Piastri only managed fourth place. World champion Max Verstappen took pole position in a surprise move, ahead of Norris and Mercedes teenager Kimi Andrea Antonelli. "Max made the difference," Helmut Marko, Red Bull's motorsport advisor, told Sky. "He was really motivated."

Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. "I'm so happy. It's been a tough year so far," said the record Formula 1 world champion after finishing third in the sprint, laughing: "I never thought it would rain in Miami. But it gave us a lot of fun." In qualifying, however, the Englishman missed the final, finishing in twelfth place. Things hardly fared better for teammate Charles Leclerc, who finished eighth.

The Monegasque wasn't even able to compete in the sprint: He crashed before the short race had even started. On the way to the starting grid, he lost control of the Ferrari. On the rain-soaked track, Leclerc slid into the barrier with the right side of his car. Hadn't the Scuderia looked out the window? It hadn't just been raining for a moment, but for almost an hour.

Nevertheless, they sent Leclerc out on the track with the slick tires. Grande Casino! In any case, Leclerc was taking a slight left turn when he aquaplaned, his red car bouncing off the surface of the water. Front tire flat, rear suspension bent. Continuing? Impossible. Get out, Signore. "No, no, no," Leclerc moaned into the radio.

During the warm-up lap, the safety car drove ahead of the field. Water sprayed everywhere, and the drivers reported zero visibility. Piastri, for example, lamented on behalf of his colleagues the "worst visibility I've ever experienced in a racing car." Race control played it safe: They waved red flags and postponed the start indefinitely. This likely had another reason besides safety concerns: A total loss suffered in the sprint threatened to torpedo participation in the grid position race for the Grand Prix.

Thirty minutes passed, the rain stopped, and the South Florida sun turned the parking lot track into a sweltering hot patch with only a few puddles. The engines started and off they went – ​​not with slicks, mind you, but with the intermediate tires for mixed conditions. After two reconnaissance runs behind the safety car, the chase began in classic fashion: a standing start, with 16 of the originally planned 18 laps remaining.

Starting from second place, Piastri accelerated from zero to 200 km/h 0.27 seconds faster than Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes . The 18-year-old had surprisingly raced to pole position the day before. Now, the Italian, pushed wide by Piastri, couldn't make the first corner. Passed down to fourth place, he ranted on the radio: "He pushed me off!" The referees saw it differently: Tough but fair, Piastri's maneuver, no investigation against the Australian.

Benefiting from clear road conditions and good visibility, Piastri pulled away, leaving Norris and Verstappen behind. "It's drying very quickly," reported Piastri at the front, and soon the question of courage arose: Who would dare to put on slicks first? Piastri asked again: "How's the track?" - "It's drying, but not as quickly as I thought." Carlos Sainz had a similar view: "At the moment, the intermediate tire is still faster than the slick," said the Williams driver. "But only a tiny bit." And not for much longer.

At the halfway point, Piastri was two seconds ahead of Norris, who in turn was four seconds ahead of Verstappen. Then, with seven laps to go, the changes began, and with them the drama: First Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), then Hamilton came in for service. Everything went smoothly, especially for Hamilton: The tire change boosted him from sixth to fourth. The McLaren drivers and Verstappen were still ahead of him, but that soon changed for the world champion, as there was a collision between Verstappen and Antonelli shortly afterwards.

Red Bull released the recently dispatched world champion into the pit lane's fast lane. But Antonelli was just speeding up for service, his crew waiting directly in front of the Red Bull team. Verstappen swerved, and Antonelli pulled in: crash.

The Mercedes rumbled over the front wing of the Red Bull. Antonelli tried to avoid it and missed his parking space. He had to complete another lap and come back to the pits. So he finished tenth and out of the points. "Come on, guys," Verstappen grumbled about his team's fatal error. The fact that he left the pits with a destroyed front wing no longer mattered. Verstappen paid for his team's mistake with a ten-second time penalty: in the end, he gave way to the Dutchman, who had become a father to a daughter this week . Rhinelander Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber) also finished ninth and out of the points. In qualifying, the Rhinelander only managed 16th place.

At the front, McLaren delayed its pit stop. Piastri arrived first with four laps to go, followed by Norris one lap later. Piastri's usual preference for the leader and early dispatch proved to be unfortunate. Meanwhile, Alonso collided with Lawson. The two-time champion's Aston Martin was left wrecked near the racing line. As Norris was leaving the pits at 80 km/h, the safety car was deployed and the onrushing Piastri was slowed down. This deprived him of the opportunity to overtake his teammate, who was creeping out of the pit lane.

"I think I did pretty much everything right," said Piastri at the finish, "but that's how it goes sometimes in racing." The recovery of the crashed car took a while, so Norris, who won his first Grand Prix last year in Miami , was able to celebrate his first small triumph of the weekend. "I would have preferred," said the Briton, "all this to have happened tomorrow." But the Grand Prix also promises to be turbulent due to forecast showers.