CNN
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Oscar Piastri continued his blistering form to start the 2025 Formula One season as he claimed a dominant victory at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

Although Max Verstappen led early on after starting on pole position, Piastri was able to overtake the Dutch driver during the 14th lap and never look back.

It was a McLaren one-two in Florida as Lando Norris overtook Verstappen four laps later and the two papaya cars put distance between themselves and the rest of the pack; second-placed Norris finished almost 38 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell in third.

Piastri’s victory – his fourth of the season already – is his third in a row and maintains his lead atop the driver’s championship standings, where he leads teammate Norris by 16 points. He is the first McLaren driver to win three consecutive Grands Prix since Mika Häkkinen in 1997-98.

But despite the excellent run he’s on, the Australian driver said there was plenty for him to work on going forward, specifically highlighting his performance in Saturday’s qualifying.

“I think this weekend was not my best, and a lot of that was yesterday. The race today was pretty solid, but yesterday, I was pretty frustrated with my performance,” Piastri told reporters. “Ultimately, yes, I won the race this weekend, but I think the likelihood of winning many races (after) qualifying fourth is pretty low.

“I did a lot of things right today, but there was definitely some good fortune there as well, and a very quick car. I don’t want to rely on that every single Sunday. Clearly, this is the exception to the pace we’ve had this year. Yes, we’ve always had a strong car, but the pace we had today from lap one, it felt like was unexpected, even for us.”

The only downside for Piastri on Sunday’s result was his post-race celebration, he says.

The 24-year-old performed the Griddy dance after jumping out his car, having made a bet pre-race with Minnesota Vikings star Justin Jefferson – who popularized the dance with his touchdown celebrations – that if he won, he’d do the dance.

Piastri admitted afterwards that his Griddy “might need a bit of work” and said he didn’t practice it after qualifying as he thought winning on Sunday would be a long-shot.

“That was my first attempt at a Griddy live on world TV. I stayed true to the bet, but that’s the one and only time you’ll be seeing me do that,” he told reporters.

Jefferson gave Piastri’s effort the seal of approval, writing on Instagram: “You did just fine. We gone work on the dance moves another time, just keep winning brother!!”

It was a typically star-studded affair in Miami for the Grand Prix, with celebrities such as actor Timothée Chalamet, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and Blackpink star Lisa in attendance.

And it was a unique build-up to the race with each driver participating in the drivers’ parade in a fully drivable LEGO model of their F1 cars rather than the typical truck.

The cars – made of nearly 400,000 LEGO bricks – were modeled on the drivers’ cars, decorated with their unique numbers and liveries, and were driven around the course ahead of the race.

While there was success for his former team, Lewis Hamilton was consigned to an eighth-place finish as his debut season with Ferrari continues to stutter.

The seven-time world champion started 12th on the grid but was able to fight his way back, finishing three seconds behind teammate Charles Leclerc and over a minute behind Piastri.

And Hamilton’s early season frustrations – he sits seventh in the drivers’ championship standings, 90 points off Piastri – were evident during the race in a terse exchange over the radio with his Ferrari team.

A mid-race pitstop saw Hamilton find some speed and close in on Leclerc. But, having initially told both drivers to hold position, Ferrari engineers instructed Leclerc to cede his position to Hamilton a few laps later.

Hamilton was clearly frustrated with the delay in the instructions, telling his engineers they could “have a tea break while you’re at it.” After eventually given permission to pass Leclerc, he said the delay was “not good teamwork” and when he was later told that Williams’ Carlos Sainz was on his tail, he sarcastically asked if they wanted him to “let Sainz through as well.”

The British driver said afterwards that the comments were made in the throes of competition, saying that he still has “that fire in my belly.”

“I lost a lot of time behind Charles, and in that moment, for sure, I was like: ‘Come on, let’s make a concise decision really quick, let’s not waste time,’” the 40-year-old told Sky Sports.

“I’m sure people didn’t like certain comments, but you’ve got to understand it was frustrating, people say way worse things than what I say. It was more sarcastic than anything and I’m not frustrated now. We’ll work internally, we’ll have discussions and we’ll keep pushing.”

He added: “Let’s not get emotional about it. We’re here to race, we’re not where we want to be. I’ve still got that fire in my belly. I could feel a little bit of it really coming out there, and I’m not going to apologize for being a fighter, I’m not going to apologize for still wanting it.”

CNN
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Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka has won her first title since becoming a mother, beating Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan 6-1, 7-5 in the final of L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo, a WTA 125 event France.

Osaka, a four-time grand slam champion, returned to competitive tennis at the start of 2024 after giving birth to her daughter in July 2023.

“Kinda ironic to win my first trophy back on the surface that I thought was my worst,” Osaka wrote on X following her win.

“That’s one of my favorite things about life though, there’s always room to grow and evolve. Thanks to everyone accompanying me on this journey, I know it’s turbulent but it’s also really fun and I’m grateful.”

It is the first clay-court title of Osaka’s career and comes after a promising start to the year was derailed by injuries.

Osaka’s win will also push her back into the world’s top 50 for the first time since returning to tennis.

The 27-year-old revealed last year that she was still adjusting to playing tennis following the birth of her daughter, saying she didn’t “feel like I’m in my body.”

Osaka has previously taken extended breaks from tennis to prioritize her mental health.

The Japanese star is next set to compete at the WTA 1000 Italian Open which begins on Wednesday.

CNN
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The Indiana Pacers stunned the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road 121-112 to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday night.

Indiana raced out to an 11-point advantage at the end of the first quarter and held a lead for the majority of the game. It wasn’t until the Pacers led by 12 midway through the third quarter after an Aaron Nesmith three-pointer that the Cavaliers began to rally.

But after clawing back the deficit and taking the lead, the Cavs came up against an inspired Tyrese Haliburton down the stretch. The guard led the Pacers on a 20-10 run to close the game, including a clutch three-pointer – only his second on six attempts on the night – and a crucial block.

“We’re definitely the heavy underdog, but we’re trying to control what we can,” Haliburton said, per the Associated Press. “It gives us a lot of momentum for sure, but this is the best team in our conference. They don’t lose much.”

Haliburton finished with 22 points, 13 assists, three rebounds, three blocks and a steal in an all-around performance, while all five of Indiana’s starters, plus Bennedict Mathurin off the bench, scored in double figures.

Andrew Nembhard had a team-high 23 for Indiana, including five-of-six from three-point range, to go with six assists.

“We had an exceptionally good shot-making night, but the key word is aggression,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ve got to be in attack mode to beat this team.”

Indiana won despite a record-breaking Game 1 from Donovan Mitchell.

The Cavaliers guard had a game-high 33 points for his eighth-straight series opener scoring at least 30 points, breaking Michael Jordan’s previous record of seven.

Cleveland was without Darius Garland for a third straight game due to a toe injury, but got 20 points, 10 rebounds and two steals from Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and 21 points off the bench from Ty Jerome, who continues to impress in these playoffs.

It was poor shooting from distance that ultimately cost the Cavs in Game 1, with the team going 9-of-38 from deep, including 1-of-11 from Mitchell.

“We missed a lot of good looks, and then when you miss shots, that’s when they get going in transition,” Mitchell said, per AP. “The biggest thing is, when the shots aren’t falling, how do you respond? But when a team like this runs like that, it makes it tough.”

Game 2 is in Cleveland on Tuesday.

Steph Curry scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Golden State Warriors down the stretch to a 103-89 Game 7 win over the Houston Rockets.

However, it was Buddy Hield that lead the team in scoring on the night with a game-high 33 points on an absurdly efficient 12-of-15 shooting, including 9-of-11 from three to tie the record for most threes made in a Game 7.

It was quite the remarkable turnaround for Hield, who had zero points on 0-of-4 shooting in 17 minutes in Game 6.

The Warriors are the seventh No. 7 seed in NBA history to advance to the semifinals, per AP.

Curry finished the night with 22 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks, while Jimmy Butler had 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Fred VanVleet came up big for the Rockets in Games 5 and 6 but scored just 17 points in Game 7 on an all-around poor shooting night for the team.