Our verdict on McLaren's Miami dominance + messy Ferrari team orders

McLaren's 2025 Formula 1 car flexed its muscles more than ever before with a dominant performance at the Miami Grand Prix.

But should Lando Norris have won the race? And how about Ferrari's messy team orders row?

Our team give their verdict on the biggest topics of the race.

Groundhog Day for Norris and Ferrari

Scott Mitchell-Malm

Two things felt like Groundhog Day in this race. 

The first was watching Norris repeatedly try the almost-impossible against Verstappen with attempted moves around the outside. 

The Turn 2 incident at the start was understandable because that was the only real space Norris could occupy, so he had to try. But the rest felt a little naive - I think he was trying to force the issue like in Mexico last year, but the corner profile didn't lend itself to that, and he should have judged it better. 

Especially as it paled compared to the way Piastri raced Verstappen so much more efficiently once they went wheel-to-wheel.

The other count of deja vu came courtesy of Ferrari, which continues to find ways to delay making what seem like obvious race management calls. It's a tale as old as time.

Hamilton's frustration was understandable because there's no point having the cars on different strategies only to labour over swapping the cars the way Ferrari did. 

And his reference to China was spot on. Remember that swap was actually initiated by Hamilton. So he's getting a taste of what it's like when you effectively have to engineer/strategise your own races. 

The fact Ferrari then ordered another swap back late on, when Hamilton was trying to catch up to Kimi Antonelli and was getting closer, even if it was taking a while, just rubbed salt into the wounds. 

Ferrari has bigger problems than team orders

Gary Anderson

It’s probably the first time this year that both McLaren drivers were able to really show the true race pace of there car, beating Russell in a Mercedes who finished third by some 36 seconds just means McLaren is on a different planet.

Yes, the car is still tricky on new tyres for that crucial one lap in qualifying and it sometimes sucks the drivers into making small mistakes, but with race pace on used tyres like it has, if it can get in clean air it’s a simple case of ‘see you later alligator’.

While Mercedes was McLaren's main contender in Miami, if you can call it that, Ferrari was really not at the races.

Leclerc finished seventh, 56 seconds behind Piastri. There was a little intra-team squabble 20 laps from the end about track position and Hamilton was fairly vocal with what he thought about the situation when he was on the faster tyre, but it didn’t instruct Leclerc immediately to let him through.

Eventually it did but Hamilton wasn’t able to make any headway, so later on it reversed the positions ‘again’.

Yes, it needs to react to situations faster than it does, but basically Ferrari wasn’t at the races today and it was only a matter of who was getting the assistance of DRS from their team-mate.

First it was Hamilton getting it from Leclerc, when they changed positions, then it was Leclerc getting it from Hamilton.

Basically they both had the same slow pace, so no gain for either.

Not the stark Norris/Piastri contrast it initially looked like

Josh Suttill

Upon first viewing, I felt this was the perfect example of Piastri's superior racecraft versus Norris and a clear 'Norris should have won this'.

But having reviewed the key flashpoints, I'm not as convinced.

Take lap one, Turn 2 for example. Upon closer inspection, you see Verstappen had a genuine snap that almost sent him into Norris, who had every right to go for it and try and scoop up the lead. Had Norris backed out, he would have been vulnerable to Kimi Antonelli behind.

Instead he went for it, and that cost him the track position that lost him the grand prix.

Piastri was smarter in passing Verstappen, but he got more help with Verstappen's lock-up at Turn 1 than was afforded for Norris.

Piastri also had more of his McLaren ahead at the crucial point in the braking zone, so he had more flexibility there than the overreaching Norris fell into.

So I think Norris can genuinely come away from this feeling a little unlucky. It's not quite the sloppiness of his Jeddah qualifying crash or Bahrain grid box error, but just an unfortunately magnified minor deficit to Piastri in a key area.

Ferrari drivers' frustrations spilling over

Jack Benyon

Things at Ferrari haven't been plain sailing for Lewis, but he was well prepared for things like a car not being quick enough or his team-mate being quicker than him after the previous three years at Mercedes! None of the narrative so far at Ferrari will have been a massive shock or difficult to answer questions about.

But a flare-up with the team over the radio in Miami gave us the first glimpse of how Hamilton might react in direct conflict with his team, which we know can happen at Ferrari with its race management and driver-swapping tendencies. Let's just say it doesn't have a great track record for getting these kind of things right.

Hamilton gave the team short-shrift on the radio, showing no signs of the 'we'll discuss this after the race' (read: in private) that has become so popular in F1 these days.

His sarcasm at the message that Sainz was behind - Hamilton basically said 'do you want me to let him through too' showed how bemused he was after the earlier annoyance he didn't get an answer quicker on swapping him ahead of Leclerc so he could attack on his mediums. He even suggested they have a "tea party" while waiting for a decision.

It's tricky for Ferrari. Hamilton wants to have his instructions obeyed as a competitor and great champion. Ferrari wants to keep him happy but also has to manage the fact that Leclerc is, in effect, still its lead driver, and that's a tricky balance to, well, balance.

What we did learn is that while Hamilton is clearly a team player, he's not come to Ferrari just for the PR value, at least not when he's in the car. His lack of patience on the radio sounded like someone who knows he doesn't have forever left in F1 and expects his high standards to be met. Or else!

The or else in this case being an earful of sarcasm that could - if extended - easily double as a Drive to Survive stand-up special episode. But should also be taken at face value; the frustration of two drivers being very disappointed with an under-performing car spilling over in a high-stakes environment.