After a careful but persistent fight against Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri claimed an early lead, which he held on to throughout the 2025 F1 Miami GP. He ultimately crossed the line 4.630 seconds ahead of teammate and championship rival Lando Norris, who, falling back on the opening lap, failed to truly rival the dominant Piastri. It was a reverse of Saturday’s outcome where Norris led his teammate across the line.
Piastri maximised “really strong” first stint to claim victory at the 2025 F1 Miami GP
While speaking to the media in his trackside interview after the Miami race, Piastri spoke about his experience in his McLaren over the weekend, and especially his recovery to win Sunday’s race. While he highlighted the race pace of the MCL39 as his major advantage over his rivals, he emphasised that the car had been “unbelievable” during Sunday’s race, a fact highlighted by his more than 37-second gap to Mercedes’ George Russell who finished third.
“Yeah, I mean, I won the race that I really wanted to do. Yesterday was a tricky day. Obviously, the Sprint was what it was, but qualifying was probably one of my trickiest sessions of the year. And to come away with a win still on Sunday is an impressive result. So yeah, obviously there was a bit of argy-bargy at Turn 1 [inaudible]… but we had a pace advantage, and clearly the car was unbelievable today.”
His strong first stin on the medium compound tyres especially impressed Piastri. This, he explained had helped him build that gap that had helped him overcome his later difficulties on the hard tyres.
“Yeah, I mean I think the first stint was really, really strong. Then the Hard stint, I was honestly struggling a little bit. So it was a good thing that I built that gap in the first stint. I think towards the end I started to get things a bit more back under control.”
Piastri believes that some fine-tuning needed as McLaren continue championship fight
Despite his dominant performance, and his pride in the results that he achieved, Piastri emphasised that McLaren needed to keep learning and improving to maximise their gains in the upcoming races.
“But there’s still definitely some things to work on from this afternoon. So I’m very happy with the win, very happy with the points – but constantly got to keep learning. So yeah, very, very happy to leave Miami on top.”
Despite highlighting the need for continued improvement, Piastri praised his team for the word done to get him the win. He recalled their struggles in 2023 where they were “the slowest team” on the grid. He thanked the McLaren team, both trackside and at the factory for the role the had played in getting the team so far forward.
“I mean, it’s just incredible the hard work that’s gone in. You know, remember two years ago here in Miami we were genuinely the slowest team – I think we got lapped twice – and to now have won the Grand Prix by over 35 seconds to third is an unbelievable result. And the hard work of every single person – firstly the people here at the track, but everyone at the factory as well.”
