McLaren remains unbeatable in Miami, Russell continues to impress, and Ferrari slips even further: here’s the race summary.
Piastri led the field, followed by Norris, while Russell finished third, continuing his impressive form. Ferrari, on the other hand, got everything wrong and ended up only seventh and eighth. Let’s take a look at what happened.
Laps 1–20
Verstappen was aggressive at the start: he defended his position from Lando Norris, slightly pushed him wide, and Lando dropped back to sixth. Amid the early chaos, Antonelli took advantage and moved up to second place.
A Virtual Safety Car was deployed on lap 2 due to a puncture for Doohan. At the restart, Piastri immediately overtook Kimi Antonelli to take second.
Lando Norris began his recovery and by lap 9 was back up to third behind Verstappen and Piastri.
The McLarens demonstrated clearly superior pace: Piastri closed in on Verstappen and, after a prolonged battle, overtook him on lap 14.
Norris also managed to pass Verstappen on lap 18, completing a McLaren one-two with Piastri leading and Norris in second.
Laps 20–40
The McLarens’ race pace was significantly better than the rest of the field: after 20 laps, Piastri had a 9-second lead over Norris, who was also pulling away from Verstappen.
Antonelli was the first to pit on lap 26, switching to hard tyres as planned. Max Verstappen came in on the following lap to defend from Kimi Antonelli.
On lap 29, another Virtual Safety Car was activated due to Oliver Bearman retiring with a mechanical issue. Teams that hadn’t pitted yet took advantage of the situation.
Russell gained the most, rejoining ahead of Verstappen and moving up to third place.
A new VSC was triggered on lap 33 following an engine failure for Bortoleto, but it lasted just one lap.
During this phase, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton overtook Carlos Sainz’s Williams in what was an extremely negative race for Ferrari.
Laps 40–57
By lap 40, the two McLarens were still dominating, with Norris in second boasting a 22-second advantage over Russell.
The race concluded without major surprises, with Piastri first, followed by Norris, who had opened a 33-second gap over third-placed George Russell.
Once again, the race lacked major drama, as McLaren delivered an overwhelming performance—the team’s technical package is currently the best on the grid.
Russell capped off a perfect drive, continuing a brilliant start to the season. He benefitted from the Virtual Safety Car, but made the most of it when it counted.
Verstappen tried to keep Red Bull in the fight, but the VSC robbed him of a podium finish.
Also worth noting was a strong showing from Williams, with Albon in top form and Sainz starting to find his rhythm.
Ferrari, lost in the midfield, made errors even in managing their two drivers: a disastrous weekend, certainly one to forget.
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