MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) Just five races into the Formula 1 season and theres already a compelling championship battle with inner organization implications.
Oscar Piastri has aggressively shown he wont sit behind teammate Lando Norris, allowing Norris to become the anointed No. 1 driver at McLaren Racing. The Aussie did it by winning three of the first five races this season to take hold of the lead in the driver standings.
Norris, at one time McLarens designated champion-in-waiting, sits 10 points back from Piastri with one victory on the season. And as F1 shifts to the United States for the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, McLaren boss Zak Brown insisted there will be no internal issues with this championship fight and, for now, hell let it play out naturally.
Let em race, Brown vowed to The Associated Press. He will not designate a No. 1 and issue any team orders until a time comes in which one of the drivers has clearly separated himself in the title race.
Well only make that decision if it becomes clear, like it did last year at a certain point, Brown said. Until then they will get the same treatment. There may be instances when one has an upgrade that the other doesnt have yet, but thats the extent of it right now. We want to let them race.
Norris earned his first career victory at Miami last year when he snapped Max Verstappens two-race winning streak at the event staged around Hard Rock Stadium. Norris, hyped as McLarens great hope, had picked up the derogatory moniker Lando No Wins when he arrived in Miami, where he promptly shed the label and had a rowdy South Beach victory celebration.
I kind of envy Lando for getting his first race win here, because Im sure Sunday night was definitely a cool one, said rival Pierre Gasly. Its one of those races you want the Sunday to go well so you get a good reason to party on Sunday night.
How was Norris party?
I dont remember, he said with a sheepish grin.
Norris was then asked if hes concerned that Piastri has seized momentum by winning three races since Norris lone victory.
Not worried at all. Hes doing a good job and he deserves it. Nothing more than that, Norris said. I dont believe so much in the momentum stuff. Im doing what I can. Ive clearly made some mistakes and not at the level I need to be, but I believe I can be at that level soon enough.
Its round six of 24. Im not going to say that forever, but I know I need to get a move on and get into gear a little bit, Norris continued. The speed is there, the pace is there, the race pace is definitely there. Its just one thing I need to tidy up. Its a difficult thing, but Im confident Ill get it.
Hamilton admits to struggles with Ferrari
Lewis Hamiltons move to Ferrari this season has been slow going for the seven-time champion and hes admitted the struggles shown so far could continue the entire year.
Hamilton is in his first year with Ferrari after 12 seasons at Mercedes. He won the sprint race in Shanghai with Ferrari but has yet to log a top-four finish in any Grand Prix. Hamilton trails teammate Charles Leclerc by 16 points in the driver standings.
He likened his current transitioning to when he first joined Mercedes.
The first six months were tough getting attuned to working with new people. Obviously, the engineers Im working with now are used to setting up a car for a different driver and a different driving style, and Im used to driving a car with a different driving style, Hamilton said. So its a combination of a bunch of different things. Im definitely working hard to adjust to this one for sure.
Hes also trying to adjust to spending more time in Italy, a country where hes struggling to learn the language but gorging on the food.
Trying to stay off the pizzas and the pasta, which Im not doing very well with, Hamilton said. I had like three pizzas in two days. I have my hookup C he keeps bringing me a pizza.
Not living in Italy currently, but spending more time is still something I really want to try and figure out how to do through the year, he continued. My Italian is not really progressing, so Ive probably got to throw myself more into the thick of it. But the teams been well. Lots of changes, a huge amount of work has been going on from my first days there.
U.S. television rights
F1 president Stefano Domenicali said he had no update to give on the series ongoing efforts to find a television partner in the United States.
ESPN is in the final year of its current contract with F1 but informed the series it would not be renewing for 2026. ESPN reportedly pays Formula One Management an estimated $75 million to $90 million annually for the rights to air F1 content in the U.S.
Domenicali has been touting the importance of F1s positioning in North America, and the series has dramatically grown the last five years. F1 now races three times a year in the U.S. and announced a 10-year extension with Miami on Friday that takes the race through 2041 and five times total in North America. F1 next season will also have both Ford and General Motors in the series Ford as a support partner with Red Bull and Cadillac as a factory-backed 11th team.
There are discussions in place and there are several partners that are interested to talk, Domenicali said Friday. The good news is that there is a lot of interest and we need to make sure we are credible in the landscape where we know very well there are major league sports that are very, very important for this market. We need to find the right place with the right content to offer the supportive fans in the U.S.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
迈阿密花园市，佛罗里达州（美联社） - 仅在F1赛季的五场比赛中，就已经出现了一场引人注目的冠军争夺战，这将对内部组织产生深远影响。
奥斯卡·皮亚斯特里（Oscar Piastri）已积极表明他不会屈居队友兰多·诺里斯（Lando Norris）之后，这让诺里斯得以成为迈凯伦车队（McLaren Racing）的正式头号车手。这位澳大利亚车手通过赢得本赛季前五场比赛中的三场，从而在车手积分榜上占据了领先地位。
Norris，这位曾被麦克拉伦（McLaren）指定为候补冠军的选手，本赛季只获得了一次胜利，目前落后皮亚斯特里（Piastri）10分。随着F1于周日移师美国举行迈阿密大奖赛，麦克拉伦的老板扎克·布朗（Zak Brown）坚称这场冠军争夺战不会出现内部问题，目前他会让它自然发展。
布朗向美联社（The Associated Press）承诺，让他们尽情比赛。在一位车手在冠军争夺中明显领先之前，他不会指定一号车手，也不会发出任何车队指令。
布朗表示，只有在某一点上变得明确，就像去年那样，我们才会做出这样的决定。在那之前，他们将得到同样的待遇。虽然可能会出现某一方升级而另一方尚未升级的情况，但目前仅此而已。我们希望让他们进行比赛。
诺里斯在迈阿密赢得了他职业生涯的首场胜利，当时他在Hard Rock Stadium周围举行的活动中，终结了马克斯·维斯塔潘的两连胜。被誉为迈凯伦希望之星的诺里斯抵达迈阿密时，被冠以了贬义的绰号“Lando No Wins”，但他迅速摆脱了这个标签，并在南海滩上举办了一场热闹的胜利庆典。
竞争对手皮埃尔·加斯利表示：“我有点嫉妒兰多能在这里赢得他的首场比赛胜利，因为我确信周日晚上一定很酷。这是那些你希望周日能顺利进行，以便周日晚上有好的理由去狂欢的比赛之一。”
诺里斯的派对怎么样？
他面带羞涩的笑容说道：‘我不记得了。’
随后询问了诺里斯是否担心皮亚斯特里在诺里斯唯一一次获胜后赢得了三场比赛而获得势头。
诺里斯说：“我一点也不担心。他干得不错，他值得的。没有什么比这更重要的了。我不太相信‘势头’这类东西。我在尽我所能。我显然犯了一些错误，还没有达到我需要达到的水平，但我相信我能很快达到那个水平。”
这是第6轮比赛，共24轮。我并不会永远这么说，但我知道我需要加速并稍微进入状态，诺里斯继续说道。速度和节奏都在那里，比赛的节奏也确实在那里。我只是需要整理一件事。这是一件困难的事情，但我相信我能做到。
汉密尔顿承认与法拉利队的竞争是艰难的
七届世界冠军刘易斯·汉密尔顿（Lewis Hamilton）本赛季转会法拉利（Ferrari）的进程并不顺利，他承认到目前为止所面临的挑战可能会持续一整年。
在为梅赛德斯效力12个赛季后，汉密尔顿在法拉利的首个赛季中，虽然在上海的冲刺赛中为法拉利赢得了胜利，但在任何一场大奖赛中尚未取得前四名的成绩。在车手积分榜上，汉密尔顿落后队友勒克莱尔16分。
他将目前的转型与自己最初加入梅赛德斯时的情况相提并论。
头六个月对我来说着实艰难，需要适应与新同事一起工作。显然，我现在合作的设计师们已经习惯为不同的车手和不同的驾驶风格设置车辆，而我则习惯于驾驶具有不同驾驶风格的车辆。所以，这其实是一个多种因素结合的挑战。我确实在努力调整自己以适应这种变化。
他正努力适应在意大利花更多时间的生活，虽然他在学习语言上遇到了困难，但他在享受美食方面却大快朵颐。
汉密尔顿（Hamilton）表示，他正努力不吃披萨和意大利面，但做得不太好。他说自己在两天内吃了大约三个披萨。我有一个供货渠道，他总是给我送来披萨。
我目前并不居住在意大利，但我还是非常希望能花更多时间去探索和实现这一目标。我的意大利语水平没有太大进展，所以我需要更加深入地融入当地生活。但球队的情况一直很好，从我加入的第一天起，就经历了许多变化和大量的工作。
美国电视播放权
F1总裁斯特凡诺·多梅尼卡利（Stefano Domenicali）表示，他无法就F1正在美国寻找电视合作伙伴的持续努力提供最新消息。
ESPN目前与F1的合同正处于最后一年，但他们已告知F1系列不会续约至2026年。据报道，ESP每年向F1管理公司支付约7500万美元至9000万美元的版权费，以在美国播放F1内容。
多梅尼卡利一直强调F1在北美的重要性，而F1在过去的五年里也确实显著增长。F1现在每年在美国举办三次比赛，并于周五宣布与迈阿密续约十年，将比赛延续至2041年，同时使北美的比赛总次数达到五次。F1下赛季还将迎来福特和通用汽车两个品牌，其中福特作为支持伙伴与红牛合作，而凯迪拉克则是作为工厂支持的第十一个车队。
多梅尼卡利（Domenicali）于周五表示，目前已有讨论，并且有数位合作伙伴对此表示出兴趣。好消息是，我们有很多合作伙伴感兴趣，并且我们需要确保我们在一个我们都非常了解的、有众多重要联赛体育赛事的市场中保持可信度。我们需要找到合适的地方，提供合适的内容，来为美国的支持者提供支持。
美国新闻协会（AP）的汽车比赛：请访问[https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing](https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing)了解更多信息。
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