Oscar Piastri triumphed in a stunning victory at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday. The Australian capitalized on early skirmishes in the front row; polesitter Max Verstappen and Lando Norris battled for the lead, but ultimately, Piastri came out on top. It took several laps for him to overtake the reigning world champion, but with Verstappen in his rearview mirror, he faced little challenge.
“I won the race I wanted to win,” Piastri joked after the Grand Prix. During the sprint race on Saturday, he crossed the finish line second, behind teammate Lando Norris. “All jokes aside, yesterday was a challenging day,” he continued in a serious tone. “The qualifying session was perhaps one of the toughest of the year. To then ultimately win the race is a fantastic result.”
From Slowest to Fastest
“Of course, I benefited from the chaos in the first corner,” Piastri referred to the rivalry between Norris and Verstappen. “After that, I was sharp enough to beat Max and I had the pace – the car was incredible.” The Australian wanted to thank the team for the McLaren MCL39. “There is so much hard work going on behind the scenes,” he explained. “Two years ago, we were the slowest team and were sometimes lapped twice. Now we are winning with a 35-second lead.”
This marked the fourth victory of the season for the current championship leader and his third consecutive win. Piastri has extended his lead over teammate Lando Norris by seven points. The gap now stands at sixteen points. Max Verstappen – who is in third place – is thirty-two points behind the McLaren driver.
