Miami F1 Grand Prix talking points: Piastri and McLaren dominate, Hamilton finds Ferrari asleep at the wheel

An incident-packed Miami Grand Prix saw McLaren's Piastri win ahead of teammate Norris

Victory in Miami was Oscar Piastri's fourth on the spin as the McLaren driver extended his championship lead. AFP

Another McLaren 1-2, several virtual safety cars, an incident in the first lap and highly publicised team disputes – here are the key talking points from another dramatic Formula One race weekend at the Miami Grand Prix.

Piastri and McLaren dominate

Another determined and dominant race from Oscar Piastri saw the driver come from fourth on the grid to claim his third successive win and his fourth victory in six races this year.

Driving with clinical efficiency, the Australian continues to display equanimity behind the wheel, brilliantly capitalising on the speed of the car and the benefit of driving in clean air. Teammate Lando Norris was second, with both McLarens finishing more than 30 seconds clear of the chasing pack.

Max Verstappen might have started in pole position but the wheel-to-wheel tussle with Norris in the first lap saw the British driver squeezed out, dropping back to sixth place and allowing Kimi Antonelli and Piastri to push through. Once Piastri passed the young Mercedes driver, Verstappen was overcome on lap 14 and the Australian drove a near perfect race from then to extend his world championship lead.

He now sits 16 points ahead of his teammate at the top of the standings. “To come away with a win on Sunday is an impressive result,” said Piastri. “Obviously, there was a bit of argy-bargy at Turn 1 which helped me out a little bit, and then I was aware enough to avoid Max coming through in Turn 1.

“From that point onwards, I knew that I had a good pace advantage and clearly the car was unbelievable today.”

Piastri was quick to point out how much McLaren has grown and improved over the past two years. “It’s just incredible, the hard work that’s gone in. I remember two years ago here in Miami we were genuinely the slowest team. I think we got lapped twice.”

Norris may have suffered from that early incident but was back challenging Verstappen on lap 17. He initially went off track but eventually overcame his rival on the next lap and set off in his quest to close the gap between him and his teammate Piastri, gaining on him in the last few laps to finish four seconds behind.

"We were up the road so it was a good feeling. Oscar drove well, Max put up a good fight as always and I paid the price, but it’s the way it is," said Norris.

New-dad Verstappen misses out on podium

It was a tricky weekend for Verstappen, who announced the birth of his first child with partner Kelly Piquet days before Sunday's race.

Finishing outside of the points in Saturday's Sprint race left the Red Bull driver immensely frustrated. After being called into the pits, Verstappen was released by his team directly into the path of Antonelli, who was making his way to his own pit box, causing a collision. Verstappen initially finished the Sprint race in fourth despite damaging his front wing but a 10-second penalty left the Dutchman with zero points.

However, another impressive drive in qualifying ensured the four-time world champion qualified in pole position on the grid, demonstrating his immense pace. While his talent continues to allow Red Bull to challenge, it was obvious that he simply couldn’t keep up with the pace of the McLarens and he eventually relented as he was passed by Piastri first and then Norris.

Verstappen said: “We were overheating a lot on the tyres, so it was just quite a bit of a struggle out there, and then of course we got a bit unlucky with the VSC [virtual safety car] as well, but that’s racing as well.”

Having lost out on a podium finish to George Russell, Red Bull lodged a protest against the Mercedes driver for allegedly failing to slow down under yellow flags during the race.

It was Verstappen who first alerted the team as he was heard over the radio asking to “Check if George lifted, there was a yellow.”

But that appeal was dismissed by F1 stewards meaning Russell keeps hold of his third-place finish.

Ferrari asleep at the wheel

Another dismal Sunday for Ferrari provoked irritated radio messages from Lewis Hamilton who was heard saying "have a tea break while you're at it" as he sought clear and quick decision-making from the team.

Ferrari simply do not have the pace to challenge at the moment and they continue to struggle in managing the race effectively, forcing their drivers to express their frustration as they wait for team orders.

Hamilton struggled in qualifying and started the race in P12. A virtual safety car mid-race allowed the seven-time world champion to benefit from a quick pit stop which helped him to progress up the field. With his teammate battling with Carlos Sainz for seventh, he noticed his faster pace and requested to swap position with Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari delayed their decision and wasted time before eventually allowing for the swap. Hamilton was then unleashed and tasked with hunting down Kimi Antonelli ahead of him but wasn’t seen to be doing it quickly enough as Leclerc struggled in dirty air. Another swap was eventually ordered and Leclerc finished in seventh, 56 seconds behind Piastri with Hamilton securing P8.

Ferrari, once again, do not react quickly enough, while the car has problems that Hamilton hopes they have now identified. "We're lacking performance in the car but I think we know where we are losing it, particularly since, like, China for example. We've got some improvements to make to the car before we can unlock that performance, but we won't give up, we'll keep pushing."

Williams continue to thrill

Another brilliant weekend for the Grove-based outfit as Alex Albon secured P5, finishing ahead of teammate Sainz in P9, to give the team their best points haul in almost eight years.

Williams made a decision to focus entirely on the 2026 F1 regulations before the current season even started – and remain committed to that strategy. Team principal James Vowles had said: “Let's be completely straightforward – we're in a mess because we were short-termist all the way through the last 20 years.

"It wasn't difficult at all [to shift focus to 2026] because part of the reason why I joined this entity is we had a pretty frank discussion from the very beginning over it. It will take this long, it will take this amount of investment, and we cannot be driven by short-termism and it was completely aligned and agreed from the outset."

However, Miami gave the team the opportunity to add more points to their tally, bringing the team’s total to 37 points, more than double their entire haul from the 2024 season.

On Saturday, Williams recorded their strongest qualifying of the season in Miami, with Sainz taking sixth and Albon just behind in seventh, the first time both Williams drivers have started in the top seven this year.

The strength of the team this season begs the question: what can be achieved this season if they focus their attention of developing the FW47?

Vowles seems intent on sticking to his plan and long-term vision to ensure the continued growth of the team, but if Williams manage to hold on to fifth place in the constructors’ championship, they will receive approximately $35 million more in prize money from what they managed last season when they finished ninth.