Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton renew rivalry as Lando Norris enjoys Miami sprint stroll

Lando Norris underlined McLaren's resurgence this weekend in Miami with a comfortable victory in the sprint.

In a MCL40 sporting a raft of updates, pole-sitter Norris was never troubled, primarily because the driver alongside him on the front row, championship leader Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes, again went backwards off the line.

Norris went on to spearhead a McLaren one-two, with team-mate Oscar Piastri finishing 3.7s seconds adrift at the end of the 19 laps at the Miami International Autodrome, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc completing the podium.

Antonelli crossed the line in fourth ahead of team-mate George Russell, only to be handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits violations, dropping him to sixth. After seemingly extending his championship lead to 10 points, it has now been cut to seven.

Behind them, the main battle was between old rivals, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari, initially on the opening lap as they banged wheels and again midway through the race when the Dutch driver forced the Briton wide. The duo went on to finish fifth and seventh, respectively, with the former gaining a place due to the Antonelli penalty.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly netted the final point with eighth position following a late tussle with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar.

Two cars out before the start

It was a race in which only 20 cars competed due to Nico Hulkenberg's Audi catching fire en route to the grid, whilst the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad sustained a technical issue.

The start was all about yet another getaway failure from Antonelli, which have undermined his events this season, leading to a promise after his victory in Japan five weeks ago that he would work on his starts during the extended break.

Those words went out of the window once the five red lights disappeared to signal the start of the second sprint race of the year, with Antonelli getting bogged down off the line.

The 19-year-old was immediately swamped by those around him as Piastri and Leclerc flashed by. Russell almost did the same, but Antonelli just managed to keep his team-mate at bay out of Turn 1.

Behind the leading quintet, Verstappen and Hamilton rekindled their old rivalry, banging wheels through the opening corner, with the Dutchman getting the upper hand. Hamilton, though, managed a pass later in the lap to claim sixth.

From that moment, Norris controlled the race ahead of Piastri, with Leclerc completing the podium.

The battle for the minor places, however, ignited on lap eight as initially, Russell grabbed fourth from Antonelli, whilst later in the lap, Verstappen and Hamilton again went head to head.

On this occasion, though, Verstappen forced Hamilton wide in completing the overtake, and after a complaint from Hamilton that the move was off track, it came as no surprise when Gianpiero Lambiase informed his driver to hand back the position, doing so on lap nine.

On lap 10, Verstappen measured his move on Hamilton to cleanly reclaim sixth position from the seven-time F1 champion, whilst Antonelli stormed around the outside of Russell into Turn 10 to wrestle back fourth position.

In the standings, third-placed Leclerc is now 22 points behind Antonelli, whilst Norris has closed the gap to 43 points, albeit more significantly, making clear that McLaren is back in the fight this season.