Lando Norris never in with real chance of race win despite setting DHL Fastest Race Lap

Miami was the venue for the sixth race of the 2025 Formula 1 season. Even before the drivers lined up for Saturday’s sprint race, the “Sunshine State” had already showed its more capricious side, with a heavy downpour creating hazardous wet conditions. Fortunately, the weather chaos feared for Sunday did not materialize, which allowed the McLarens to put in another dominating performance.

The Papaya-liveried cars were nevertheless still beatable on a fast lap – Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli took the sprint pole, while Max Verstappen booked the front berth on Sunday. But over the long distance, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were in a class of their own.

Piastri steadily worked his way up from fourth on the grid. Even with the most aggressive defensive maneuvers, Max Verstappen was unable to keep the Australian behind him. After an unsuccessful move on Verstappen, Norris had to resume the chase from P6.

The Brit came up against the reigning world champion again on lap 14 and fought his way past after a further four laps. Piastri was the beneficiary of his team-mate’s battle for position, steadily consolidating a comfortable lead.

After his pit stop, Norris once again tried everything to close the gap on his team-mate, setting the DHL fastest race lap in a time of 1:29.746 minutes on lap 36. At the finish line, Norris was four seconds down on Piastri. But he has few complaints after the sprint win and second place in the race: “My pace was very strong throughout the whole stint to get back to second. I’m happy with it. The whole weekend has been good, though not completely faultless. There’s still been those little things here and there, but the ability has been a lot higher this weekend.”