Piastri Dominates Miami Grand Prix with McLaren One-Two Finish

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida – Oscar Piastri extended his lead in the championship standings to 16 points by winning the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, finishing just ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Neither the reigning champion Max Verstappen, who started from pole position, nor any other driver possessed the speed to challenge the two McLaren cars. Piastri secured his fourth victory of the season, finishing 4.6 seconds ahead of Norris.

Norris, starting from second place, attempted to overtake Verstappen for the lead at the first corner but was forced wide at Turn 2, dropping him to fifth position. Meanwhile, Piastri moved up from fourth on the grid to third.

Piastri then overtook Andrea Kimi Antonelli for second place on Lap 4, and Norris recovered to claim third position by Lap 9.

For the next nine laps, Verstappen displayed excellent defensive driving, holding off Piastri until Lap 14 and Norris until Lap 18.

The superior pace of the McLarens was evident, but Verstappen skillfully positioned his Red Bull to delay their progress as long as possible.

Once the two McLarens were clear at the front, their one-two finish seemed certain, with Piastri effectively managing the gap to his teammate.

Norris tried to close the distance and chipped away at Piastri`s lead during the latter half of the race but was ultimately unable to mount a serious challenge for the win.

This result means Piastri has increased his championship lead for the second consecutive race since taking the top spot at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

In a post-race interview, Piastri mentioned his conscious effort to avoid Verstappen at Turn 1.

“I won the race I truly desired after a challenging Saturday,” Piastri commented.

“To come away with a win is an impressive achievement. I was careful enough to avoid Max in Turn 1 and knew I had a pace advantage. I struggled a bit on the hard tires but had built a sufficient gap. There`s still room for improvement; we are continuously learning.”

He added, “Two years ago in Miami, we were the slowest team, I believe we were lapped twice. Now, to win the Grand Prix by over 35 seconds ahead of third place is an incredible outcome.”

Similarly, Norris acknowledged Verstappen`s strong defense, stating, “I paid the price, but that`s how it goes. What can I say? If I don`t go for it, people complain. If I go for it, people complain, so you can`t win.”

“But that`s the situation with Max, it`s either a crash or no pass. Unless you get everything perfectly right and put him in the ideal position, you can barely get by. I paid the price for not executing well enough today, but I`m still content with second place.”

George Russell secured third place for Mercedes, benefiting from a pit stop during a virtual safety car period, which was activated to recover Oliver Bearman`s broken-down Haas car from the trackside.

Russell expressed satisfaction with achieving a podium finish.

“Really happy to come away with P3,” he said afterward. “I`ve personally been struggling this weekend and felt like I was always playing catch-up.”

Hours after the race concluded, Red Bull filed a protest against Russell`s result, alleging that he failed to slow sufficiently under yellow flags.

Verstappen, who pitted under normal racing conditions, finished in fourth place despite his strong defense in the initial laps. He is now 32 points behind Piastri, having lost 20 points to the McLaren driver throughout the entire Miami Grand Prix weekend, including the sprint race.

Alex Albon matched his best result of the season by finishing fifth, ahead of Antonelli, who also lost track position due to the pit stop timing.

A challenging weekend for Ferrari concluded with a close battle between their two drivers for seventh and eighth positions.

Running on different tire strategies, Lewis Hamilton, on medium tires, closed in behind Charles Leclerc, who was on hard tires, on Lap 36, as his mediums offered better performance.

Ferrari initially instructed Hamilton to maintain a one-second gap behind Leclerc to gain from DRS while holding position. However, the driver of car 44 responded by saying, “This is not good teamwork, that`s all I`m going to say.”

In a separate message, Hamilton added, “In China I got out the way [for Leclerc]. Have a tea break while you`re at it, come on.”

Upon hearing this, Ferrari agreed to tell Leclerc to let Hamilton pass, which he did on Lap 39.

Less than 15 laps later, Hamilton`s tires began to degrade, and Leclerc was now on the radio requesting to repass Hamilton to chase Antonelli for sixth.

Again, executing the order took several laps, with Leclerc ultimately finishing 3.1 seconds behind the Mercedes driver at the finish line.

Carlos Sainz secured ninth place for Williams after attempting to overtake Hamilton on the final lap, with Red Bull`s Yuki Tsunoda completing the top 10.