Oscar Piastri increased his championship tally to 16 by winning ahead of his teammate Lando Norris at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday. Neither the reigning champion, Verstappen, who starts from pole, nor any other driver could stay with the two McLarens as Piastri took his win number four of the season by 4.6 seconds over Norris.
Norris started from second and attempted to pass Verstappen for the lead at the first corner but ended up stuck on the outside of Turn 2 and dropped to fifth, while Piastri moved up onto the podium from fourth on the grid to third. On Lap 4, Piastri passed Andrea Kimi Antonelli for second, and by Lap 9, Norris was back in third.
Verstappen, in the following nine laps, guided his defense with brilliance, keeping Piastri at bay until Lap 14 and then Norris until Lap 18. The lustrous pace of the McLarens stood in stark contrast to the delay tactics of Verstappen, who used all his racecraft in holding off the inevitable. Once clear air was established for both McLarens in front, their one-two was almost guaranteed, with Piastri reducing his distance to his teammate.
During the latter half of the race, Norris tried catching up and brought down the gap to his teammate, but never really laid a serious challenge. This result means Piastri has increased his championship lead for the second race in a row after he led the standings for the first time at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
In a post-race interview, Piastri revealed that, at Turn 1, he was aware that he should stay away from Verstappen. “I won the race that I really wanted to after a tricky day on Saturday,” Piastri said. He further added, “To come away with a win is an impressive result. I was aware enough to avoid Max in Turn 1, and I knew I had a pace advantage.”
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