Piastri scores a three-peat with Miami GP victory

Oscar Piastri led a dominant McLaren one-two finish ahead of Lando Norris at the Miami Grand Prix, beating the field by more than half a minute. Piastri capitalized on a chaotic first lap that saw polesitter Max Verstappen and front-row starter Lando Norris come to blows at Turn 2, sending the Briton off the track. Norris had the fractionally better start, and a Verstappen lock-up allowed him to get down the inside of the Red Bull Racing car into the first turn. The move left Norris hanging on the outside of Turn 2, where a Verstappen knock pushed him off track. The Dutchman continued in the lead, but Norris fell to sixth as he rejoined the track. Kimi Antonelli was next up to try a move on Verstappen, but the teenager’s challenge lasted only until the end of the lap, when a lock-up into the first corner opened the door to Piastri, who pinched second place on lap four on the blast down to Turn 11. By lap nine the Australian was within striking distance of the lead, but Verstappen wasn’t about to make it easy for him. “Stay on the inside, Max. Make him work for it,” the Dutchman was told by engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. He rebuffed attempts at the first turn and again at Turn 10, Piastri clinging to the Red Bull Racing gearbox throughout the lap until a minor lock-up back at Turn 1 dropped him fractionally off the pace. By lap 13 he was on the Dutchman’s tail again, and a strong exit from the final hairpin drew him alongside into the first turn. Verstappen attempted to defend deep on the brakes, but a lock-up sent him sailing off the road. Piastri saw it coming, remaining wide and then sweeping comfortably down the inside to take the lead. “Brakes, man,” Verstappen vented on team radio. “Useless.” Norris was making similarly strong progress after his compromised start with a string of decisive moves on Alex Albon, George Russell and Antonelli until he was third on lap nine. The Briton benefitted from Piastri and Verstappen’s long scrap for the lead, drawing him close, and by lap 15 he too was challenging the Dutchman for position. Verstappen pulled the same defensive moves, barging Norris off the road at the first turn and holding the inside line. He briefly got through on lap 17, but a late-braking move down the inside of Turn 11 put both cars off track, and he handed the place back at the final hairpin to avoid a penalty. On the next lap he didn’t make the same error, nailing the braking zone to deprive Verstappen of second place permanently, his recovery complete. Piastri, meanwhile, made the most of his time in clear air, and his teammate’s long battle, to stretch his advantage. By the time Norris moved into second place, the Australian was 9s up the road. Both made their sole stops during a virtual safety car for Oliver Bearman’s stopped Haas on lap 29, neutralizing any potential strategic battle. Though Norris made small inroads in the second stint on the hard tire, particularly while they navigated lapped traffic, the gap ultimately proved insurmountable. Piastri took the checkered flag by 4.6s, claiming his third successive victory and fourth in five rounds to stretch his title lead to 16 points. “Obviously there was a bit of argy-bargy at Turn 1, which helped me out a little bit,” he said. “I knew I had a good pace advantage. The car was unbelievable today. “I think the first stint was really, really strong. The hard stint I was honestly struggling a little bit, so it was a good thing I built that gap in the first stint. Very, very happy to leave Miami on top.” Norris lamented his first-lap battle with Verstappen dropping him out of victory contention but praised the team for building a car capable of gapping the field by 33s, his margin back to third place. “The team have done an amazing job,” he said. “I can’t fault them at all — good pit stops, great pace, we were up the road. It was a good feeling. Max put up a good fight as always, and I paid the price, but that’s the way it is.” Russell held off a fast-finishing Verstappen after having been promoted into third with a cheap pit stop during Bearman’s virtual safety car. Having started on hard, the Briton ended the race on the quicker mediums, but in the final 10 laps momentum swung back towards Verstappen’s hard tires, allowing him to close to within 1.5s of the Mercedes. He never got close enough to launch a move, and Russell claimed his fourth podium finish of the year with a 2.3s advantage. “I was pretty calm and I felt really good within the car to keep him behind me, so that was good,” Russell said. “Really happy to come away with P3, because I’ve been struggling this weekend and always on the back foot, but ultimately when it mattered I got a good result today.” Alex Albon was a superb fifth, splitting Antonelli from the leaders after the pit stops. The Mercedes driver had a slow stop that dropped him out of the podium battle, but the Williams driver’s pressure forced an error from the Italian into he first turn to take the place. Albon thereafter had the pace to hold the place on merit. Antonelli finished sixth in part thanks to Ferrari’s mismanagement of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in seventh and eighth, twice swapping the drivers in the second stint alone as they each argued they were faster over team radio. Neither had the pace to catch Antonelli with any vigor, the Monegasque and the Briton ending the race frustrated in seventh and eighth respectively. Carlos Sainz finished ninth after being double-teamed by the Ferrari drivers after the pit stops. He attempted to take back eighth from Hamilton at the final hairpin on the last lap but ended up clumsily T-boning the Ferrari, though both escaped unscathed and their order unchanged. Yuki Tsunoda finished 10th for the final point with a large enough buffer to absorb a 5s penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Isack Hadjar finished 11th ahead of Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg and Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, last of the finishers. Liam Lawson retired after 36 laps following heavy contact with Jack Doohan on the first lap that put the Australian out of the race. Gabriel Bortoleto joined Bearman on the retirement list with engine problems.