McLaren’s Oscar Piastri dominated 2025 Miami Grand Prix to extend his title lead over Lando Norris.
Piastri benefitted from an opening-lap clash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris and a fourth-lap pass on Andrea Kimi Antonelli to chase down Verstappen, which saw him successfully snatch the lead on Lap 14 and scurry away to his fourth win of the season.
Norris recovered to finish second from sixth after his opening lap skirmish with Verstappen, whilst the Dutchman got jumped by Mercedes’ George Russell for third on Lap 30 during a Virtual Safety Car, after Haas’ Oliver Bearman had stopped with a power unit failure.
Williams’ Alex Albon claimed a second fifth-placed finish of the season in a solid drive to finish ahead of Antonelli, Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda – who only just fought off Isack Hadjar for tenth once a five-second time penalty was applied for speeding in the pit lane.
Speaking post-race about his “impressive” victory, Piastri described his awareness of Verstappen as the main factor behind his win.
“Bit of argy-bargy at Turn 1 which helped me, I was aware enough to avoid Max coming through at Turn 1, but I had a good pace advantage.”
In the drivers’ standings, Piastri on 131 points extended his title lead over Norris to 16 points as the McLaren pair began to pull a gap on Verstappen, as the reigning four-time champion found himself a further 16 points behind Norris.
At lights out, Verstappen got a clean start but locked up into Turn 1 whilst allowed Norris to get alongside him into Turn 2, only for the four-time champion to punt the Brit wide and caused Norris to drop to sixth.
Further back, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson attempted an outside move on Alpine’s Jack Doohan which saw him clip the Aussie’s front-left tyre to send himself spinning, whilst Doohan ultimately retired at Turn 14 due to the damage.
The Virtual Safety Car (VSC) consequently was deployed until the end of Lap 3 and a lively restart saw Piastri clear Antonelli for second into Turn 11, just moments before Norris passed Albon for fifth.
Piastri soon found himself in a tussle with Verstappen whilst Norris dispatched Russell with a rare move through Turn 5 on Lap 7, before he then cleared Antonelli two laps later for third.
Up front, Piastri continued to relentlessly pressure Verstappen until the reigning champion outbraked himself into the first corner on Lap 14 which gave the McLaren driver the lead.
Norris had quietly caught up to the squabbling pair and soon found himself in the same tussle with Verstappen that Piastri had endured, during which he overtook Verstappen off track after the pair ran deep at Turn 11 on Lap 17 but conceded the position back at the end of that lap.
Verstappen however couldn’t keep Norris behind much longer and conceded second a lap later into the same corner where they both ran deep a lap earlier.
Piastri though had built a near nine-second lead whilst Norris and Verstappen scrapped and proceeded to hold his pace from his teammate.
The VSC was redeployed on Lap 29 after Bearman suffered a power unit related failure and stopped at Turn 8, which allowed Piastri and Norris to both pit and stay in the lead.
Russell meanwhile had started the race on hard tyres and benefitted from the VSC to jump Verstappen, after the Dutchman had pitted on Lap 28 to cover the undercut of Antonelli.
Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto became the third driver to retire after he stopped on the back straight with a power unit failure on Lap 32, which briefly caused a third VSC during which Verstappen complained that Russell hadn’t “lifted” his speed despite data showing otherwise.
Hamilton initially struggled on the alternate strategy on the cusp of the top ten but found his groove on the medium tyres, which forced Ferrari to switch him and Leclerc around on Lap 39 in order to hunt down Antonelli in an unsuccessful attempt.
Ferrari consequently ordered Hamilton and Leclerc to switch back around at Turn 11 on Lap 52 to allow the Monegasque to have a go at chasing down Antonelli, but the Italian clung on to sixth at the checkered flag.
Up front, Piastri continued to control the pace but Norris quietly trimmed a seven-second deficit down to four seconds by Lap 49, but the Aussie ultimately survived the Brit’s threat to claim his third consecutive victory of the campaign to extend his title lead to 16 points over his teammate.
F1 now takes a fortnight break before commencing the European leg of the season at Imola, Italy, from 16-18 May in the first of a triple header followed by Monaco and Spain on the weekends of 23-25 May and 30 May – 1 June respectively.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 57 | 1h ..m .. |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 57 | + 4.630 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | 57 | + 37.644 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 57 | + 39.956 |
| 5 | Alex Albon | Williams | 57 | + 48.067 |
| 6 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 57 | + 55.502 |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 57 | + 57.036 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 57 | + 60.186 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 57 | + 60.577 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | 53 | + 74.434 |
| 11 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 57 | + 74.602 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 57 | + 82.006 |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 57 | + 90.445 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| 15 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 56 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 37 | Damage |
| RET | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | 32 | Power |
| RET | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 27 | Power |
| RET | Jack Doohan | Alpine | 0 | Collision |
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