05/04/25 05:38:00
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05/04 17:36 CDT Oscar Piastri wins at Miami for 3rd straight F1 victory, 4th
win of season for championship leader
Oscar Piastri wins at Miami for 3rd straight F1 victory, 4th win of season for
championship leader
By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) --- The first time Oscar Piastri arrived at the Miami
Grand Prix as a Formula 1 driver he was in the slowest car in the field and
only narrowly avoided finishing last.
Fast-forward two years and Piastri and McLaren Racing have come full circle.
Piastri maintained his advantage in the F1 championship fight by winning at
Miami on Sunday for his fourth win through six races this season. Piastri has
won three consecutive F1 races for McLaren Racing, where he and teammate Lando
Norris are trying to dethrone four-time defending champion Max Verstappen of
Red Bull.
McLaren has won Miami the last two years, with Norris on top last season for
his first career F1 victory.
"It's just incredible, the hard work that's gone in," Piastri said of McLaren.
"I 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 of the hard work of every single person."
Piastri is the first McLaren driver to win three consecutive F1 races in 28
years; Mika Hakkinen did it with a win in the 1997 season finale and then
victories in the first two races of 1998.
He widened his lead over Norris in the driver standings to 16 points, while
Verstappen trails Piastri by 32 points.
Norris' win at Miami last season snapped Verstappen's two-year winning streak
at the course surrounding Hard Rock Stadium. Norris also won the sprint race on
Saturday --- Piastri dominated but a late safety car cost him the victory ---
but Verstappen won the pole in qualifying.
Verstappen, who announced the birth of his first child Friday morning, has been
determined to disprove the myth that fatherhood would make him a more
conservative driver. It was evident as he darted away at the start and then
aggressively held off Norris' challenge for the lead.
The Red Bull and McLaren were side-by-side and Norris was trying to edge ahead
of the Dutchman, but he ran off track and lost four spots. Norris said
Verstappen forced him off track and there was nothing he could do but try to
avoid running into a wall --- but F1 took no action against Verstappen.
"What can I say? If I don't go for it, people complain. If I go for it, people
complain," Norris said. "You can't win. But it really just how it is with Max
--- it's crash or their pass."
Verstappen was unapologetic after fading to fourth and insisted he raced within
the rules.
"I mean, I had nothing to lose, so I also wanted to have a bit of fun out
there," Verstappen said, adding McLaren's strong start to the season is "not
frustrating at all."
"We are here to win and today we were miles off that, so it doesn't really
matter," Verstappen said.
Norris recovered from the early incident and picked his way back toward the
front, but not before Piastri took control away from Verstappen on the 14th of
57 laps. McLaren has decided it will allow Piastri and Norris to race each
other cleanly without team orders, and Norris was cleared to challenge his
Australian teammate for the victory.
In the waning laps, Norris was able to close the gap but could never catch
Piastri and settled for second in a 1-2 finish for McLaren. The two held a
nearly 40-second advantage over George Russell of Mercedes, who finished third.
Alex Albon of Williams was fifth, Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes was sixth and
Charles Leclerc was seventh after Ferrari ordered Lewis Hamilton to give his
teammate the position in the closing laps. Hamilton was eighth.
Carlos Sainz Jr. was ninth for Williams and Yuki Tsunoda was 10th for Red Bull.
Doohan in doubt
Jack Doohan ran into another car on the opening lap and then crashed on the
second lap --- a showing that won't quiet chatter the rookie is on the verge of
being replaced at Alpine by Franco Colapinto.
There have been media reports in Argentina that Colapinto will replace Doohan
at F1's next race, later this month in Italy. It was dismissed at the start of
the Miami weekend by Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes, who indicated "as it
is today" the Australian would still be in the seat at Imola.
"I think it was a sponsor from Argentina off-camera giving his view on Franco,
when he's going to be in the car. I'm sure there's a lot of people in Argentina
who'd like him in the car this Sunday," Oakes said about the speculation.
"We've been pretty open as a team that that's just noise. Jack needs to
continue doing a good job. But it's natural that there's always speculation
there.
"As it is today, Jack is our driver along with Pierre (Gasly)," he continued.
"We've been pretty clear on that. We always evaluate, but today that is the
case."
Doohan, who didn't complete two laps Sunday and finished last, has yet to score
a point this season through six races. His best finish was 13th at the Chinese
Grand Prix.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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