F1: Piastri wins Miami GP in dominant McLaren one-two finish – as it happened
Key events
And as the sun comes back into view in Miami just outside Hard Rock Stadium, we’ll bid farewell. Thanks as always for joining us today.
Meanwhile, in the Ferrari team’s area in the pits, we can only assume a multilingual shouting match is in progress.
The podium finishers are now in the cooldown room watching a replay of the start. This is, of course, Piastri’s first chance to get a good look at it. F1 steering wheels and consoles are sophisticated, but we’ll assume they aren’t watching replays at 200 mph.
Perspective from Piastri: “Two years ago in Miami, we were the slowest team – I think we got lapped twice.”
Russell is grateful to be on the podium, and he says Lando may be a bit mad at him because he ran into him while driving Lego cars earlier in the day.
Norris on losing positions at the start: “I paid the price, but that’s the way it is.” He’s still happy for second.
Piastri: “Yesterday (the sprint) was a tricky day, and qualifying was one of my trickiest sessions of the year. … There was a bit argy-bargy at the beginning, and I was lucky enough to get away from Max.”
The podium finishers are being interviewed as they ride a truck to Epcot Center … I mean … to wherever one goes in Miami after finishing on the podium.
F1 standings
1. Piastri, 131
2. Norris, 115
3. Verstappen, 99
4. Russell, 93
…
…
5. Leclerc, 53
6. Antonelli, 48
7. Hamilton, 41
…
8. Albon, 30
…
9. Ocon, 14
10. Stroll, 14
…
11. Tsunoda, 9
12. Gasly, 7
13. Sainz, 7 (for now)
14. Hulkenberg, 6
15. Bearman, 6
16. Hadjar, 5
…
No points: Alonso, Lawson, Doohan, Bartoleto
The top 10
1. Piastri (McLaren)
2. Norris (McLaren), +4.630 seconds
3. Russell (Mercedes), +37.644
4. Verstappen (Red Bull), +39.956
5. Albon (Williams), +48.067
6. Antonelli (Mercedes), +55.502
7. Leclerc (Ferrari), +57.036
8. Hamilton (Ferrari), +60.186
9. Sainz (Williams), +60.577 (for now)
10. Tsunoda (Red Bull), +74.434 (presumably including a 5-sec penalty)
Hadjar just misses the points at 74.602, sparing Red Bull the difficult questions of having one of their B-teamers at Racing Bulls finishing ahead of their A-teamer.
Ocon (Haas) and Gasly (Alpine) also finished on the lead lap. Hulkenberg (Sauber), Alonso (Aston Martin) and Stroll did not.
DNF: Lawson (Racing Bulls), Bortoleto (Sauber), Bearman (Haas), Doohan (Alpine).
Sainz takes a late run at Hamilton and bangs into him. Maybe Sainz will get two penalties in this one? He, of course, blames Hamilton, F1 drivers generally don’t admit fault.
Oscar Piastri wins the Miami GP
Simply a flawless performance from the series leader.
Lando Norris is second, a bit unlucky at the start.
George Russell’s well-timed pit strategy pays off for third.
Max Verstappen did indeed finish within five seconds of Russell, for what it’s worth.
Lap 57/57: A formality.
“Make sure you’re within five seconds, Max?”
“Why is that?”
They won’t tell him just yet. Do they think Russell will get a penalty? He won’t.
Lap 56/57: The drama has died out. Norris isn’t catching Piastri. Verstappen isn’t catching Russell. No one else is within a second of anyone else.
Lap 54/57: Matthew Lawrenson writes: “Perhaps either Alonso or Stroll should be replaced by Alex Palou, who’s delivered another spanking to the IndyCar field today? (won 3 of 4 races this season, the other was a 2nd).”
Stroll is the eternal prospect, isn’t he? He has three podium finishes in his career and is still just 26.
Alonso is getting into that “.200-hitting baseball player still hanging on at age 42” territory.
Lap 53/57: “We’ll try again next lap,” the Ferrari team tells Leclerc.
“It’s OK,” Leclerc says. You don’t often hear F1 drivers say that.
Hamilton lets him through.
“Sainz 1.4 behind,” they tell Hamilton.
Hamilton: “You want me to let him through as well?”
Ouch.
Lap 52/57: The Ferraris will swap places. Eventually.
Meanwhile, up front, Norris is within four seconds of Piastri. Probably a bit too late.
Lap 51/57: Sainz is ninth but may still get a penalty. Behind him, Tsunoda will get a penalty and is only 5.192 seconds ahead of Hadjar.
The Ferrari plot thickens. Leclerc asks how much the Ferraris are closing on Antonelli. The answer: “Could you go faster in clean air?” Leclerc: “I don’t know. I’m overheating.”
Lap 50/57: Alonso is stubbornly not moving over upon being shown the blue flag to move over to allow the leaders to lap him. He won two F1 championships … during the George W. Bush administration.
If Verstappen passes Russell, the top four in the season standings will finish in that order. Russell would not pass Verstappen for third if he hangs on.
Lap 49/57: Tire experts, please weigh in – would Russell (over Verstappen) and Hamilton (over Leclerc) now have a disadvantage from being on the mediums? Are they degrading now?
Lap 48/57: “This has been a disappointing race for Aston Martin,” notes a race commentator upon seeing Alonso and Stroll occupying the last two places. Hey, they’re still going! Ask Oliver Bearman from Haas about what it’s like to have a car suddenly stop working at top speed on an F1 track.
Lap 47/57: Another factor the rest of the way will be lapped traffic. Piastri has passed Stroll.
Piastri and Norris, though, could pit and perhaps have a bite to eat and still finish ahead of Russell or Verstappen.
Lap 46/57: Hamilton, frustratingly, is not pulling away from Leclerc.
Meanwhile, while we’ve focused on the Ferrari drama, Norris is within five seconds of Piastri.
Lap 44/57: Albon only has one top-five finish this season. This could be a great result for him.
Hamilton would love to pass Antonelli to pull with one point of the rookie in the season standings.
Lap 42/57: Possible duels for places the rest of the way here …
1. Piastri is pretty well in front.
2. Norris is 24 seconds ahead of …
3/4. Russell should be faster than Verstappen on medium tires, but Verstappen is close
5/6. For now, Albon is holding off Antonelli, but he may soon be holding back …
7. Hamilton, though he’s not really that far ahead of …
8. Leclerc, who complains on his radio that Hamilton gets to get farther ahead because he’s now getting dirty air as he tries to hold off …
9. Sainz.
10. Tsunoda must eventually serve a penalty and is desperately trying to build a five-second gap over …
11/12. Hadjar and Ocon.
Gasly, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Stroll are still running but likely won’t collect points today.
Lap 39/57: At last, Leclerc is told to let Hamilton through. That’s for seventh place. He still has five seconds and change to catch up to Antonelli.
Lap 38/57: “Keep the DRS to Charles,” says the team to Hamilton. Hamilton: “Man, you guys …”
Liam Lawson drops out. Not a great race for the next generation of F1 drivers.
“This is not good teamwork,” Hamilton says. “That’s all I’m going to say.”
Lap 37/57: Hamilton is making the case that teammate Leclerc should let him past because, in the medium tires, he has a faster car.
Norris posts the fastest lap and is now withing seven seconds of Piastri. Russell is another time zone behind in third, with Verstappen not too far behind him.
“You want me to just sit here the whole race?” Hamilton says on the radio. The team resists the urge to say, “You think you’re that much faster? Then pass him!”
Lap 35/57: So Russell and Hamilton are currently on mediums. So are three drivers well farther back. Everyone else is on hard tires.
We get one of those overhead views showing how this track snakes its way under everyday interstates in Miami with drivers who must be a bit stunned by the people going 2-3 times as fast underneath them.
Lap 34/57: Verstappen wants to know if Russell drove sufficiently slowly during the last virtual safety car. Please don’t ever let me referee a soccer game involving one of Verstappen’s kids.
Hamilton passes Leclerc! Or not! At this point, I expect race data to tell me Mario Andretti has taken the lead on tires made of rocks as on The Flintstones.
Lap 33/57: Bortoleto doesn’t make it back to pit road. He’s stopped, and we’ll have a virtual safety car.
Lap 32/57: I add some question marks on tires here because what we’re hearing on the broadcast is not what the F1 site says. The commentators hail Hamilton’s mastery on medium tires. The site says he’s on hard tires.
Yuki Tsunoda gets a five-second penalty for speeding on pit lane.
Bortoleto is retiring from the race, joining Doohan and Bearman.
Lap 31/57: Virtual safety car is gone in the midst of all that.
Top nine have all pitted:
1. Piastri
2. Norris
3. Russell (on hard tires; others on mediums)
4. Verstappen
5. Albon (who just passed …)
6. Antonelli
7. Sainz
8. Leclerc
9. Hamilton (hard?)
Lap 30/57: Let’s all change tires! Russell is moving up a bit … maybe.
Or not, as something goes awry … but yes, he does! He comes out ahead of Verstappen!
Lap 29/57: We’ll get a virtual safety car here as Oliver Bearman’s car slows to 0.
Drivers pitting now will have a distinct advantage, and that’s what they’ll do.
Lap 27/57: Verstappen and Albon pit.
Quick top 10 and whether they’ve pitted ..
1. Piastri, no
2. Norris, no
3. Russell, no
4. Leclerc, no
5. Verstappen, yes
6. Tsunoda, yes (wait – really?)
7. Hamilton, no
8. Antonelli, yes
9. Albon, yes
10. Sainz, yes
Ahh … Tsunoda is pitting now. That makes sense.
Lap 26/57: Antonelli comes into the pits and has to hold up a couple of seconds due to traffic.
Lap 25/57: And now Norris posts the fastest lap. Surely at this point, though, he’s not going to gain too much ground until both cars have pitted, and then we’ll see how they do on new tires.
Lap 24/57: The front three are well spread out now. Piastri, who just posted the fastest lap, is nearly eight seconds ahead of McLaren teammate Norris. Verstappen is another seven seconds back. The Mercedes duo of Antonelli and Russell are closing.
Lap 23/57: Ocon pits after the battle with Hamilton.
Lap 21/57: It’s raining hard.
In Virginia, where I live. In Miami, we have conflicting reports. Two early pit stops for Gabriel Bartoleto (Sauber) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and conflicting reports on what tires they received.
Lewis Hamilton wins a difficult battle with Esteban Ocon. Hamilton has about as much space at one point as drivers have on some roads near me that are roughly 1.5 lanes.
A couple of views of Verstappen from the inbox:
Hugh Molloy: “Norris bottled it again. Verstappen will do that to him every time because Norris blinks, every time. Piastri would have held his line and that’s the difference at this point. Lines in the sand need to be drawn or he will do it to Norris again and again.”
This was clearly sent before the first or second pass.
Tom Stratford: “Fatherhood hasn’t really mellowed Max has it.”
