Before we get started, I would like to say that when I started writing this blog series at the beginning of the season, I was doing so with the goal of becoming a reputable and reliable source of unbiased motorsports coverage. While writing this specific “issue” of my 2025 F1 coverage, I realized that I have started to focus on McLaren too heavily this season to be considering myself unbiased, so moving forward I would like to highlight other drivers and teams to get back towards that goal! So, if you have any suggestions, or any specific teams/drivers you would like me to write about, please feel free to let me know!
With that being said, let's continue on with today's article!
After a dominant show of force by the McLaren Racing team in Miami, Oscar Piastri secured his third consecutive victory of the 2025 season as he finished 5 seconds ahead of his teammate Lando Norris, and an outlandish 37 seconds ahead of third-place finisher George Russell.
Max Verstappen made an amazingly quick start, beating Norris off the line to hang on to pole position, but locked up during his lunge into Turn 1 resulting in Norris being pinched towards the outside of the track coming into Turn 2. As if on cue, Norris ran wide into the runoff area and immediately made a radio call saying that he “was forced off track” by Verstappen as he quickly fell back to P6.
To me, this shows that Norris is too dependent on Verstappen receiving a penalty at the start of the race to gain the upper hand, which has not worked in his favor so far this season. But, honestly after rewatching the start a few times, I don't think he could have avoided contact with Verstappen without going off track, whether he was “forced” or not.
Either way, Verstappen continued to lead the race and, after a brief Virtual Safety Car, started to build a decent lead for himself until he reported that his vehicle was losing grip in the corners. Behind him, Piastri was in hot pursuit of the reigning World Champ, with Norris now trailing along in P3 after easily making up ground against both Mercedes.
The next few laps proved to be extremely pivotal to the race, with Verstappen showcasing exceptional defensive maneuvers to hold off Piastri for 5 laps before finally being overtaken on Lap 14.
The lead changes hands! ⚔️
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 4, 2025
Piastri passes Verstappen in Miami#F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/TD63Va1Lhq
Verstappen then dropped down to P3 after another intense battle with a McLaren, but this time with Norris behind the wheel. But by then, Piastri was 8 seconds ahead of his teammate in P2 and by the time they both pitted, that margin was up to 12 seconds.
Lando ⚔️ Max
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 5, 2025
It was an intense battle out there between the McLaren and Red Bull pairing 👊#F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/ZJQbHlGVqY
While this gap did diminish between the two McLarens, which was down to 5 seconds by the time the team finished, it only widened between the rest of the field, with George Russel finishing in third at staggering 37 seconds back and Verstappen in fourth at almost 40 seconds behind the leader.
With Piastri bringing home his fourth win and Norris managing to come back to finish second, this makes McLaren’s fourth double podium finish in just 6 races, which now extends their lead over Mercedes by 105 points heading into Round 7. There's plenty of time left for other teams to catch up, but not if McLaren continues on the path they have started out on.
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Final Thoughts
So far, Piastri's seemingly dominant performance this season is starting to rival Max Verstappen's 2023 campaign, which saw the Red Bull Racing veteran win a total of 19 races while setting a record for the most consecutive wins in a season at 15. Now the only question that remains is if anyone can finally catch Piastri, or will McLaren continue pulling away from the rest of the grid as the season progresses?