MIAMI GP – Oscar Piastri beats Lando Norris to victory by four and a half seconds, as they dominate the race
Oscar Piastri has beaten his McLaren teammate Lando Norris by four and a half seconds to take victory at the Miami Grand Prix. Piastri drove another steady race and became the first McLaren driver to win three Grands Prix in a row since 1998, he took the lead off Max Verstappen a quarter distance and once both cleared Verstappen they were able to sail off into the distance.
McLaren looked unstoppable as they found themselves in the lead with Norris finding his way past Verstappen four laps later but there was a bit of contact but the stewards decided not to investigate the incident. The two drivers fought hard for victory but the fight remained clean throughout the race.
It was another clinical race by Piastri during his opening stint to pass both Verstappen, who had lost the lead to Norris, and Kimi Antonelli before going after Norris before passing his teammate on lap fourteen. The Australian then had control of the race despite his teammate’s best efforts to close the gap on his teammate.
Piastri was then able to maintain his lead after a virtual safety car after the Haas of Ollie Bearman stopped on track with a power unit failure at half distance. Norris had attempted to close the eight-second gap in the second half of the race but only halved it, but once again McLaren had a clear advantage George Russell was thirty seconds behind at the chequered flag.
Russell finished third having benefited from a several virtual safety car to come through to fourth before passing Verstappen at half distance where he stayed as he was able to maintain a roughly two-second gap over the Red Bull. Mercedes showing once again strategy is keeping them in the mix at the front.
Piastri said: “A bit of argy-bargy at Turn 1 which helped me a bit. I was aware enough to avoid Max coming through in Turn 1. From that point onwards I knew I had a good pace advantage and clearly the car was unbelievable.”
Norris said “Max put up a good fight as always and I paid the price, but it’s the way it is. 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 it is the way it is with Max, it’s crash or don’t pass. Unless you get it really right and you put him in the perfect position, then you can just about get there. I paid the price for not doing a good enough job today, but I’m still happy with second.”
Verstappen finished the race eight seconds ahead of Alex Albon, the Williams driver scoring the team’s best result of the season in fifth after overtaking Kimi Antonelli having got the heat into his tyres faster following the first VSC. The Dutchman making his frustration clear as he struggled for speed throughout, falls 32 points back from Piastri in the standings, denting his hopes of sealing a fifth successive drivers’ title.
The Italian driver finished a second and half ahead of the two Ferrari’s, as Charles Leclerc finished three seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton. But it was a fractious race for the Scuderia over team orders, after they instructed Leclerc to allow Hamilton to pass in an attempt to try and pass Antonelli.
That ultimately failed with Ferrari reserving the instruction with Leclerc returning to the lead on the last lap. Carlos Sainz was ninth finishing four-tenths behind Hamilton and ahead of Yuki Tsunoda by a tenth.
Tsunoda was however given a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, while Sainz is under investigation for multiple offensives. But the Japanese driver held off isack Hadjar finishing a tenth and a half ahead to score the final point, once the penalty was applied.
Hadjar was seven seconds ahead of his fellow Frenchman Esteban Ocon with Pierre Gasly eight seconds further behind. None of the French drivers managed to score points in an afternoon where action was everywhere, Gasly is under investigation for a yellow flag infringement.
Nico Hulkenberg finished the race a lap down and nearly twenty seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso with his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll four seconds behind.
Liam Lawson made it to lap thirty-six despite an opening lap collision with Jack Doohan which saw the Alpine retire after a puncher. Gabriel Bortoletto retired on lap thirty and Ollie Bearman three laps earlier with what looked to be an issue with their Ferrari power units.
Related
- Miami GP – Qualifying Result
- · MIAMI GP – Max Verstappen beats Lando Norris to pole by six and a half hundredths
- Miami GP – Sprint Result
- MIAMI GP – Lando Norris wins a chaotic sprint race ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri
- Miami GP – Sprint Qualifying Result
- MIAMI GP – Kimi Antonelli takes a maiden pole in sprint qualifying, half a tenth faster than both McLaren’s
- MIAMI GP – Oscar Piastri fastest from Charles Leclerc by three and a half tenths in practice
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