Papaya Power: Piastri leads 1-2 McLaren Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix domination

David J. Neal, Miami Herald on May 4, 2025

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — In the land of plantains and mangoes, papaya ruled again Sunday at the FIA Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ascended to the lead early and controlled the race, leading teammate Lando Norris to a 1-2 finish for the papaya-colored team a year after Norris scored an upset win in Miami Gardens. You had to go 33 seconds behind Norris to find third place George Russell of Mercedes.

Piastri quickly provided perspective, remembering how far back into the also-rans McLaren had fallen by the 2023 Miami Grand Prix.

“While we got lapped twice that day in Miami two years ago, there was optimism and determination, still,” Piastri said. “Clearly, last year with Lando’s win, that was nice for the whole team in terms of finally having a car capable of winning a race again, on merit. There was obviously the 1-2 in Monza a few years ago, but Miami last season was the turning point in winning races because we could be the quickest on track.”

Russell’s third place was protested by Red Bull Racing after polesitter Max Verstappen said during the race Russell didn’t slow down properly in a safety car situation.

“to be honest, really happy to come away with P3 because I’ve been struggling this weekend, personally, and always on the back foot,” Russell said. “But ultimately, when it mattered, got a really good result today. But well done to the McLarens — they’re just down the road.”

Piastri’s third consecutive win and fourth in this season’s six races expanded his driver’s standings lead over Norris to 16 points and to 32 points over four-time defending world champion Verstappen, who couldn’t become the first polesitter to win in Miami.

Sunday played out better than Saturday’s setup for Piastri

Despite the win, Piastri didn’t feel good about the entire weekend. Saturday, he felt victimized by bad luck by an untimely safety car in the Sprint race won by Norris and his own mistakes that kept him getting more out of his car while qualifying fourth.

“Ultimately, yes, I won the race this weekend, but I think the likelihood of winning many races qualifying fourth is pretty low,” Piastri said. “I did a lot of things right today, but there was definitely some good fortune there as well, and a very quick car. I don’t want to rely on that every single Sunday. Clearly, this is the exception to the pace we’ve had this year. Yes, we’ve always had a strong car, but the pace we had today from lap one it felt like was unexpected, even for us.”

The first 20 laps of the race ran under threat of rain hours after a steady shower caused the F1 Academy race to be canceled.

Off the start, Red Bull’s Verstappen held his line, forcing Norris, starting third, to adjust wide and allowing Piastri room to sneak past his teammate. As Norris found himself fighting back from sixth, Piastri then passed Mercedes Kimi Antonelli to start a hammer-and-tong duel with Verstappen for the lead.

Piastri knew he had a faster car and showed it by speeding away once he got around Verstappen. He also had correctly figured that Norris would close on and pass Verstappen, so he needed to put some distance between himself and their duel before that happened.

Norris closed to within 3.7 seconds late, but couldn’t finish what would’ve been a remarkable comeback.

“There was a long way to go, I think 25, 30 laps almost at that point,” said Norris about getting around Verstappen. “I probably only stopped pushing the last four or five laps. The gap went from almost 10 to four or three, almost. I did all I could. I kept belief the whole race, but Oscar’s driving well. He’s quick. To catch from 10 seconds was always pretty much going to be impossible, but I gave it a good shot.”

Williams’ Alex Albon finished fifth with Antonelli sixth. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in seventh and eighth after arguments over team rules orders.

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