Miami Grand Prix result: Kimi Antonelli wins from Lando Norris to extend title lead

Norris regretted his pit stop decision. “How did we not win this?” he said on the radio. “We can make this easier for ourselves.”

But it was a strong showing from McLaren, which has introduced a major upgrade package this weekend, putting them squarely in contention with Mercedes.

Leclerc was called to his stop on lap 21 and complained on the radio that he had not been consulted.

The decision dropped him down the field and forced him to pass slower cars. He regained third place, but lost it again to Norris’ teammate Piastri on the penultimate lap when he began struggling for grip.

Leclerc spun on his own in the final lap. He crashed into the wall, damaging his car and blowing out a tire; This meant he lost two more positions in the final corner and at the exit; Russell and then Verstappen passed him.

“It’s all my fault,” Leclerc said before the sentence was handed down.

“I’m very disappointed in myself. I need to see if the energy is different, but that’s not an excuse. It’s unacceptable.”

Verstappen ducked under the safety car to find new tyres, hoping his gamble would pay off. This dropped him to the rear, but with some aggressive overtaking and others pitting ahead of him, this moved him into the lead midway through the race.

But he could never hold on to his worn tires and slid down. Still, fifth place was a good result after his early mistake and was followed by some very aggressive racing which led to complaints from some of his rivals.

Hamilton’s Ferrari was damaged in the first lap encounter with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who moved up to seventh due to Leclerc’s penalty.

The Williams cars of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon took the final points in ninth and 10th respectively.