Oscar Piastri extended his championship lead by winning the Miami Grand Prix from fourth on the grid.
He passed Max Verstappen and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, then led home team mate Lando Norris for his fourth grand prix victory of the year.
Piastri got ahead of his team mate at the start of the race when Norris went wide in turn two while trying to pass Verstappen. The Red Bull driver had run deep at turn one while trying to defend his lead from pole position, then twitched wide as Norris drew alongside him in turn two, sending the McLaren driver off the track.
Norris fell to sixth as he rejoined. He immediately protested Verstappen’s driving on the radio but the stewards chose not to investigate.
Piastri picked off Antonelli early on, then closed in on Verstappen. He tested the leader’s defences several times and eventually provoked Verstappen into running deep at turn one, taking the lead from him.
After losing the lead to Piastri, Verstappen immediately had Norris filling his mirrors. The second McLaren took longer to get past him – the pair ran wide at turn 11 at one point, Norris emerging ahead, but correctly relinquishing his position at turn 17. The next time around Norris made another bid for second at turn 11. This time Verstappen hardly bothered to defend and Norris was by, but leader Piastri was now nine seconds up the road.
Antonelli drew within range of Verstappen and headed for the pits in an apparent attempt to ‘undercut’ him. A slow tyre change put paid to those hopes, but Red Bull brought Verstappen in soon afterwards anyway to ensure he kept his position.
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However when a Virtual Safety Car period was triggered on lap 29 by Oliver Bearman’s retirement, Mercedes pounced on the chance to bring George Russell in. He emerged narrowly ahead of Verstappen, on medium rubber to his rival’s hards, and was able to edge clear.
McLaren also used the VSC to pit both their drivers without drama. After the restart Alexander Albon attacked Antonelli and took fifth place off him.
Following another VSC period, caused by Gabriel Bortoleto’s retirement, the two Ferrari drivers passed Sainz. This gave the Williams driver a front row seat to observe his former team agonising over their team orders. First Hamilton was told to pass Leclerc, then the positions reversed again, following which Leclerc gave chase to Antonelli for sixth.
While Leclerc fell short of catching Antonelli, Sainz attacked Hamilton on the final lap, the pair making contact at turn 17. The stewards will investigate that incident and Sainz is also under investigation for a potential yellow flag infringement earlier, as is Pierre Gasly.
Yuki Tsunoda took the chequered flag 10th and narrowly kept his position ahead of Isack Hadjar, after a five-second time penalty was applied to the Red Bull driver for speeding in the pits.
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2025 Miami Grand Prix
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