A safety car, an accident on the first lap and a tough midfield battle. What did the F1 Sprint in Miami bring?

A safety car, an accident on the first lap, several overtaking manoeuvres – the sprint in Miami offered a lot. Max Verstappen was the winner, with the duo of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez on the podium. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen received three penalties. What did the F1 Sprint in Miami bring?

The sixth round of this year’s Formula 1 season, or the Miami Grand Prix, brought a nineteen-lap F1 Sprint in Saturday’s programme so far. After Friday’s sprint qualifying, Max Verstappen started from the first place and was joined on the front row by Charles Leclerc.

Sergio Pérez and Daniel Ricciardo made up the second row. After Friday’s action, fifth place went to Carlos Sainz, sixth to Oscar Piastri, seventh to Lance Stroll, eighth to Fernando Alonso, and only ninth to Lando Norris in the highly upgraded McLaren. Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the elite ten.

And the very first corner after all five lights went out brought an accident. Lewis Hamilton’s aggressive charge up the inside of the corner triggered it, with Norris immediately out of the race. Stroll also retired due to excessive damage to his car. The safety car had to be brought out on track.

What else did the F1 Sprint in Miami bring?

Although Alonso was given a new wing after this accident, he was unable to do anything about his drop to eighteenth place during the sprint. Ricciardo then moved up to third, but a few laps later, Mexican Pérez overtook him and regained his position.

By the end of the sprint, the order of the top seven places had not changed. Verstappen was the winner ahead of Leclerc and Pérez. The number 4 position was finally defended by Australian Ricciardo, who was chased by Sainz and Piastri throughout the race.

Hülkenberg scored another valuable point for Haas. However, ninth-placed Kevin Magnussen, who received three penalties during the sprint, did a bit of work for him. He didn’t give the charging Hamilton anything for free, but in the end both Hamilton and Júki Cunoda overtook him.

The seven-time champion, it must be added, did not enjoy his success for long. He was given a 20-second penalty for speeding through the pits as the drivers crashed at turn one, and eventually dropped to 16th place.

So the biggest drama was in the second half of the field. What are the final results from Saturday’s sprint?

Source: F1 TV, X