F1 Takeaways: McLaren unmatched at Miami GP with dominant one-two finish
Neither Oscar Piastri nor Lando Norris started on pole position, but when it came to actual race pace, there was no matching McLaren at the Miami Grand Prix.
Neither Oscar Piastri nor Lando Norris started on pole position, but when it came to actual race pace, there was no matching McLaren at the Miami Grand Prix.
Piastri and Norris powered away to a dominant 1-2 finish Sunday around the Miami International Autodrome. George Russell of Mercedes rounded out the podium in third and a distant 33 seconds behind Norris. Not even the threat of potential rain could wash away a practically perfect Papaya performance.
With Norris and Piastri reversing roles from Saturday’s sprint, McLaren left South Beach with maximum points. The team continues to waltz away in the constructors’ standings, extending its lead to a 105-point chasm over Mercedes.
Boom-shaka-laka, he’s on fire: Piastri picked up his third consecutive GP victory to extend his championship lead to 16 points over Norris. It’s also Piastri’s fourth of the season and sixth of his career, one more than Norris.
McLaren is doing things it hasn’t done in decades. Piastri is the first McLaren driver to win three consecutive GPs since Mika Hakkinen was victorious at the 1997 season finale and the first two races of 1998, while the last McLaren driver to win three in a row in a single season was the late great Ayrton Senna in 1991. Somehow, McLaren has returned.
Pole-sitter Max Verstappen held onto the lead until Lap 14. With Piastri pressuring from the outside, the Red Bull driver was late on the brakes as he took the inside line heading into the first turn, allowing the McLaren to slip by and pull away in the clear.
Piastri already built more than a second gap on Verstappen by the end of the lap, breaking free of DRS range, and the four-time reigning world champion now had Norris to fend off.
The frenemies started on the front row and already tangled on the opening lap, with Norris conceding and going off the track to drop to sixth. Norris battled back, picking off Alex Albon of Williams plus Russell and Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes to get back into the mix.
Norris passed Verstappen on Lap 17, but because both drivers went off the line, the British driver did the honourable move and gave the place back. Nevertheless, Norris pressed on and made a clean manoeuvre on the following lap to claim P2 for good.
McLaren took advantage of a virtual safety car to double-stack their pit stops on Lap 30, as Piastri and Norris maintained their 1-2 positions with the rest of the field at a snail’s pace.
It was reminiscent of last year’s race as a safety car allowed Norris to capitalize on a cheaper pit stop, en route to his first career victory, and a deja vu of Saturday’s sprint as the same scenario played out there as well.
McLaren has said its drivers are free to race against each other, however, it’s a shame we never got to see them challenge one another as Piastri crossed the line 4.6 seconds ahead of Norris.
The only drama involving McLaren came during the Lego parade lap.
How Russell upended Verstappen
Russell also benefited from pitting under the VSC as it allowed him to remain ahead of Verstappen when he returned to the track.
The Mercedes driver was one of a handful of drivers who started on the hard tire. Switching to the medium (i.e. faster) compound also gave him an advantage over Verstappen, who was running the opposite tire strategy.
Mercedes is still a level below McLaren, as evident by the 33-second gap, but Russell has now made four trips to the podium through six GPs and is only six points back of Verstappen for third in the championship.
It looked like Russell had been upstaged by Kimi Antonelli during Saturday’s sprint as his rookie teammate secured pole, but much to learn, the young padawan still has.
Piastri squeezed through on the opening lap, leaving Antonelli nowhere to go but off the track. Although Antonelli argued he had been pushed, the officials believed otherwise and no further action was taken.
Antonelli also had the misfortune of driving through the pit lane as Verstappen exited his box, running into the front wing of the Mercedes. That led to a 10-second time penalty for Verstappen, dropping him from fourth to 17th after the checkered flag, but didn’t help Antonelli much as he finished seventh.
The numbers rabbit hole
At 18 years and 250 days, Antonelli became the youngest pole-sitter in any format in F1 history during the sprint.
The previous record holder was Sebastian Vettel, who was 21 years old in 2008 when he took pole for the Italian Grand Prix. Antonelli was only two years old at the time.
The Miami Grand Prix has been extended until 2041, when Antonelli will be a grizzled veteran at age 34. By then, we’ll also probably be talking about rising star Lily Verstappen while 59-year-old young buck Fernando Alonso will be in the midst of his 38th season. All right, we’ll stop there.
Ferrari in-fighting?
Things were getting testy on the radio between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari. Hamilton asked to swap positions with teammate Charles Leclerc to chase down Antonelli for sixth.
Ferrari finally decided to make the switch a few laps later, likely costing Hamilton precious time to catch Antonelli. Hamilton got snappy and told his crew to take a tea break while they were at it.
When that failed, Ferrari had them switch back. As Ferrari told Hamilton that Carlos Sainz of Williams was close behind, the seven-time world champion snapped back, “You want me to let him past as well?”
We’re watching Hamilton’s turn to the dark side.
That shouldn’t wash away all the positives from the weekend. Hamilton finished third in the sprint and despite a disappointing qualifying effort starting 12th, he gained four spots to come home eighth.
Battle of the bricks
No really, how awesome was that Lego parade lap?
