Oscar Piastri’s journey from being the slowest driver at the Miami Grand Prix two years ago to dominating the race on Sunday is a testament to McLaren’s incredible progress. Piastri secured his fourth victory in six races this season, maintaining his lead in the Formula 1 championship. This marks McLaren’s second consecutive win at Miami, with Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris taking the win last season.
Reflecting on the team’s transformation, Piastri expressed his amazement, saying, “Two years ago, we were genuinely the slowest team. I think we got lapped twice. To now have won the Grand Prix by over 35 seconds to third is an unbelievable result of the hard work of every single person.”
This victory made Piastri the first McLaren driver to win three consecutive races in 28 years, following in the footsteps of Mika Häkkinen in 1998. Piastri now leads Norris by 16 points in the standings, with Max Verstappen trailing by 32 points.
While Verstappen started from pole position and initially took control of the race, his efforts were stymied by Norris early on. Norris, attempting to pass Verstappen, went off track, losing four spots in the process. Verstappen, undeterred, faded to fourth but still raced aggressively, even after the birth of his child earlier that day. “We are here to win and today we were miles off that, so it doesn’t really matter,” Verstappen commented after the race.
As McLaren teammates, Piastri and Norris were allowed to race each other freely, with no team orders in place. In the end, Piastri held off Norris, securing a McLaren 1-2 finish. George Russell finished third, nearly 40 seconds behind the McLaren duo.
Other notable finishers included Alex Albon in fifth, Kimi Antonelli sixth, and Charles Leclerc seventh, after Ferrari instructed Lewis Hamilton to allow Leclerc past in the final laps. Hamilton ended the race in eighth.
In other news, rookie Jack Doohan faced more scrutiny after a poor performance at Miami, crashing out early in the race. Media speculation continues over whether Doohan will be replaced by Franco Colapinto at Alpine, but team principal Oliver Oakes has dismissed these rumors for now, stating that Doohan is still their driver “as it is today.” Doohan has yet to score points this season, with his best finish being 13th at the Chinese Grand Prix.
