In a commanding performance that firmly establishes McLaren as Formula 1’s team to beat, Oscar Piastri led teammate Lando Norris to a dominant one-two finish at the Miami Grand Prix, with the pair finishing more than half a minute ahead of the rest of the field.

The Australian driver secured his third consecutive victory and fourth win in five races, extending his championship lead to 16 points in what has become an impressive championship campaign for the 23-year-old.

The race began with immediate drama when polesitter Max Verstappen and front-row starter Lando Norris made contact at Turn 2. Norris had made the slightly better start and managed to get inside Verstappen at Turn 1 after the Dutchman locked up. However, as they navigated Turn 2, Verstappen nudged Norris off track, allowing the Red Bull driver to maintain the lead while Norris dropped to sixth position.

This opening incident proved crucial to the race outcome, as it allowed Piastri to capitalize on the chaos ahead. The Australian quickly moved into contention, passing Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli on lap four to secure second place.

By lap nine, Piastri had closed the gap to Verstappen and began mounting his challenge for the lead. The Red Bull driver defended aggressively, following his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase’s instruction to “Stay on the inside, Max. Make him work for it.”

For several laps, Piastri stalked Verstappen, attempting moves at various corners but being rebuffed each time. The breakthrough came on lap 13 when a strong exit from the final hairpin gave Piastri the momentum to draw alongside into Turn 1. Verstappen attempted a late-braking defensive maneuver but locked up and went off track, allowing Piastri to sweep through to the lead.

“Brakes, man. Useless,” Verstappen vented over team radio, highlighting the issues that would plague his race.

Meanwhile, Norris was staging an impressive recovery drive. After falling to sixth at the start, the Briton methodically worked his way through the field with decisive overtaking moves on Alex Albon, George Russell, and Kimi Antonelli to reach third position by lap nine.

Norris then engaged in a fierce battle with Verstappen for second place. Their contest featured several contentious moments, including one where both cars went off track at Turn 11 on lap 17, forcing Norris to hand back the position to avoid a penalty. Undeterred, Norris executed a clean move on the following lap to claim second place permanently.

By the time Norris cleared Verstappen, Piastri had built a commanding 9-second lead at the front. Both McLaren drivers made their sole pit stops during a virtual safety car period triggered by Oliver Bearman’s stranded Haas on lap 29, which preserved their advantage over the field.

Though Norris made small inroads into Piastri’s lead during the second stint on hard tires, particularly while navigating lapped traffic, the gap proved too large to overcome. Piastri ultimately crossed the finish line 4.6 seconds ahead of his teammate.

“Obviously there was a bit of argy-bargy at Turn 1, which helped me out a little bit,” Piastri said after the race. “I knew I had a good pace advantage. The car was unbelievable today. 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.”

Norris, while pleased with the team result, lamented the first-lap incident that likely cost him a shot at victory. “The team have done an amazing job. 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.”

George Russell completed the podium for Mercedes, holding off a fast-charging Verstappen in the closing stages of the race. Russell had been promoted to third with a strategically timed pit stop during the virtual safety car period and managed to defend his position despite Verstappen’s late charge on fresher tires.

“I was pretty calm and I felt really good within the car to keep him behind me,” 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 delivered an exceptional performance for Williams, finishing fifth after applying pressure that forced rookie Kimi Antonelli into an error. The Mercedes youngster had to settle for sixth place after a slow pit stop had already compromised his race.

Ferrari endured a frustrating afternoon with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finishing seventh and eighth respectively. The team twice swapped their drivers’ positions during the second stint as each claimed to be faster, but neither had the pace to challenge the cars ahead.

Carlos Sainz finished ninth for Ferrari after being overtaken by both Leclerc and Hamilton following the pit stops. A clumsy final-lap attempt to reclaim position from Hamilton resulted in contact, though both cars continued to the finish without significant damage.

Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the points-paying positions in tenth place for RB, despite incurring a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

With this dominant display, McLaren has firmly established itself as the team to beat in the 2025 Formula 1 season, with Piastri emerging as a serious championship contender. The paddock now looks ahead to the next round to see if Red Bull and the other teams can find answers to McLaren’s impressive pace.

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