Sprint Day dawned in Miami and Linblad had to start from the pit-lane because Racing Bulls did not cover up his car overnight then Hulkenberg's engine blew up on the way to the grid. It was a poor start for McNish as the new Audi boss.
Having had a full month to practice their starts a lot was expected from the drivers off the grid. Antonelli, who had solemnly promised he wold work on nothing but his starts, had a stinker, dropping back to fourth. It was wheel to wheel in the first few corners. Racing Bulls have a new livery for the event and are now yellow all over the front. An added benefit is that it makes them mush easier to distinguish from the Red Bulls. Antonelli made a couple of moves on LeClerc who then radioed in to say he was driving dangerously.
Hamilton will have been pleased get passed old rival Verstappen on lap three. Meanwhile the McLarens were clear away at the front, staying in the order they started. At the back of the pack, Stroll overtook Alondso; why weren't we shown that?
Linblad went out but I don't know where, when or why.
Russell got past Antonelli for fourth place but it was reversed later in the lap. Verstappen and Hamtilton were contining to battle, coming to a head when Versappen pushed Hamilton off the track to overtake. Red Bull told him to give the place back. Ultimately Verstappen would win between the pair.
Just after halfway, Bearman lost a large piece of his car that was smashed up by his team mate, splintering it into little parts. With six laps to go Albon came in for a new nose for his Williams. It seemed a bit pointless unless they were going to be investigated for having wobbly parts on board. He came back out at the back.
The beginning of the race was interesting but then it became quite boring. Bearman did his best and overtook his team mate with only a couple of corners to go and Alonso waited to then get past Stroll and Perez.
Despite having been warned with a flag, Antonelli went outside of track limits again on the last lap and was awarded a five second time penalty. That dropped him from fourth to sixth.
David Coulthard hosted the not-podium interview and also got to hand out some plaques as not-trophies to the top three. LeClerc looked absolutely bewildered to have been given it. Norris praised the upgrades. He got his special plaque from someone who was on Artemis II. Coulthard added some appropriate words about the recent death of Alex Zanardi at the end: "remembering him as a racing community", which was unusually apposite of him.
The drivers were very sweaty after the Sprint so the actual race should be a challenge.
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