Norris returns to scene of first win as Piastri chases hat-trick

Miami will always be special for Lando Norris after taking his first Formula One win there last year but McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri could have more to celebrate when they race again on Sunday.

Piastri seized the championship lead from the Briton by winning in Saudi Arabia and the second sprint weekend of the season gives the Australian a chance to stretch the 10 point gap between them.

The unflappable 24-year-old, now the bookmakers’ title favourite, takes the momentum to the Hard Rock Stadium complex as he chases a third successive victory and fourth of the season from six races.

Piastri’s self-assured no-fuss attitude, compared to Norris’s habit of open self-criticism, has convinced several old F1 hands that he is ready for take-off.

“He (Piastri) is without a doubt a future world champion,” Australia’s 1980 champion Alan Jones told Fox Sports this week.

“He can do it this year, no question. At the end of the day, his teammate is weak. His teammate is quite quick, there’s no doubt about that. But mentally, I think he’s quite a weak person.

“He’s coming out with all this nonsense that he’s got a bit of a mental thing, he’s dwelling on some of the problems he’s had rather than the positives. When they start talking all that nonsense, you know you’ve got them.”

Norris has his supporters, those who see his openness as a strength, but he also needs to reassert himself after a recent run of setbacks.

Hot and humid Miami, where he triumphed from fifth place on the grid last year, would be as good a place as any to bounce back.

“I have confidence. The pace is there. I made my life too tough on Saturday,” the Briton said after finishing fourth in Saudi Arabia.

“I have to work on my Saturdays and if I work on my Saturdays I am pretty confident I can get back to where I was.”

Saturday this time will be a points-paying day with the 100km sprint worth eight to the winner, but McLaren cannot assume the chase for victory will be between their drivers.

Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen is a two-times winner in Miami, was on pole there last year and is still only 12 points adrift of Piastri after winning in Japan and finishing runner-up in Jeddah.

After losing a first corner battle with Piastri in Jeddah, he will want to come back strong.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton won the only other sprint so far this season, in China in March, with Piastri second and Norris eighth. The Australian went on to win the main race from pole position in a McLaren one-two on Sunday.

Hamilton has struggled since that first win in Ferrari overalls and the seven-times world champion sounded downbeat after Jeddah, suggesting it was “going to be painful” for the rest of the year.

Team boss Fred Vasseur said Ferrari had seen “good progress” in the last two races, however, and had been working hard in the simulator to prepare.

The six drivers who started their first full season in March will all be driving in Miami for the first time, with Alpine’s Jack Doohan, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson seeking their first points of the campaign.

Reuters