In a place full of positive memories for the Dutchman, Max Verstappen continues to be the best of the rest in the glorious Miami, Florida. Although he did express his unhappiness with how the RB20 has been working  this weekend.

Ferrari took the second spot with Charles Leclerc who finished 3.3 seconds behind the reigning world champion.

The dominance of Red Bull Racing continues as it was Sergio Pérez who completed the podium lineup with a third place finish. A very tactical performance from the Mexican in using the Visa CashApp RB of Daniel Ricciardo to buffer the podium finishes for Christian Horner's team.

Red Bull have now won seven of the last eight sprint races.

In terms of points on the board, this keeps the Red Bull's at the top of the Constructors' and Drivers' Championship. Verstappen now holding a 27-point lead, followed by "Checo" Pérez and then chasing them is the Ferraris.

Following the sprint, the leader shared his joy with the team on the victory, however, he did express that he feels the car is not in a good place this weekend in the lack of rear grip it is offering, which will come to the excitement of many F1 fans ahead of tomorrow's Grand Prix.

  • Story of the Sprint

Drama came before the race when Esteban Ocon was released from the garage and into the right rear tyre of Leclerc's Ferrari. The FIA granted a front wing change for the Alpine, but this came with a 10-second time penalty for the pit-lane infringement, later served during a safety car.

The lights went out in Miami and the pack emerged but a tussle in the middle soon brought the race to a halt as the single-waved yellow flag came out.

Lando Norris' car was seen to spin off the track following an incident between the two Aston Martin's. As Lewis Hamilton attempted to force his way through a gap on the inside of turn one, this led to Fernando Alonso shunting left into Lance Stroll who went hard into Norris and sent him out of the race.

Damage to Stroll's car also meant he could not continue his participation in the sprint and a puncture for Alonso meant he could not contend for a points finish.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown confirmed on the pit wall that the damage looks "pretty small" and that they are prepared for the upcoming race.

The slightly-shuffled group proceeded to race from lap three as a green flag was waved by the Marshalls. As the lap came to a close, DRS enabled but Verstappen had done enough by this point to get away from the threat of Leclerc.

Daniel Ricciardo had taken the place of Pérez prior to the incident, but could not hold onto this position as the Red Bull flew past him on lap five.

Sergio Pérez kept the 34-year old where he wanted him for a good amount of time following this, keeping his sister-team's driver in a DRS zone whilst opening the gap ahead of him.

Both of the Haas' took the last two point positions for most of the race, Lewis Hamilton chasing their tails lap by lap.

As the race continued, Hamilton gained ground on Kevin Magnussen's Haas but tension rose in the chicane of turns 14 and 15 when the Dane went off-track to skip the sharp corners. This saw Kevin Magnussen receive his first time penalty from the FIA.

Agitation between the two drivers furthered on lap 11 when the Haas contacted the Silver Arrows racer, Magnussen consequently seeing a black and white flag for his unsportsmanlike behaviour and receiving another penalty.

Ahead of the apex, Magnussen increased his list of penalties when forcing Hamilton off-track and exceeding the track limits once again. His collective penalties came to 35-seconds, putting him to the bottom of the standings by the end.

Hamilton's continuous attempts eventually paid off, as RB's Yuki Tsunoda came into the mix, putting him in eighth, but a penalty received for speeding in the pit-lane took away his points.

Further up the list of drivers, the 2024 Australian Grand Prix winner, Carlos Sainz, pushed Ricciardo all the way to the finish line.

This brilliant performance from Daniel Ricciardo saw him take the fourth position, splitting the Ferraris and triumphing over McLaren. This marks his first top four finish since the Russian Grand Prix in 2021.

Collecting points after Sainz, the McLaren of Oscar Piastri completed the race in sixth, Nico Hulkenberg taking two points home in seventh, and Tsunoda making it a double-points finish for RB snatching a point from those available in eighth.

Miami Grand Prix qualifying takes place at 9pm tonight for those UK readers (4pm local time).