Miami Grand Prix: Lando Norris wins race from Oscar Piastre

Norris’ victory was a statement after a difficult start to the season for the world champions after major improvements to the McLaren car for the fourth race this season.

In the opening laps, he managed to control the race carefully, avoiding overworking the medium tire, before widening the gap on Piastre.

Piastre ran into Norris in the opening laps as Leclerc initially outpaced the Mercedes drivers, including Hamilton and Verstappen.

But Leclerc broke away from that fight and began to pressure Piastre, until the Australian reasserted his dominance in the final two rounds.

Antonelli made his fifth successive poor start in all competitions this season and was challenged by Russell as they rounded the first corner side by side with the Briton inside.

Antonelli withstood that challenge, but Russell found him on lap seven in the first corner. A lap later, the Italian moved into fourth place at turn 11 and held onto the position at the end of the long back straight. The penalty reduced Rall’s lead in the championship to seven points.

Behind them, Verstappen sidestepped Hamilton at turn one before the seven-time champion regained his position on the latter lap.

The two ran together until Verstappen passed Hamilton on lap seven. But the move ended with both cars off the track and Verstappen was tipped to hand the place back to his 2021 title rival.

After two laps, however, Verstappen made a good pass, taking the Ferrari into the final corner.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished eighth in the final points, ahead of Red Bull’s Issac Hadjar and Gasly’s teammate Franco Colapinto.

Qualifying for Sunday’s Main Grand Prix starts at 21:00 BST.