Miami GP news: Piastri McLaren’s main man, Hamilton furious at Ferrari, plus another driver change
From Lego F1 cars to a historic pole-sitter and with plenty of controversy in between, Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix offered its fair share of talking points.
The first of three American GPs this season saw McLaren’s Oscar Piastri take the chequered flag ahead of teammate Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell.
With a quarter of the season having already flown by, things are starting to take shape in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.
Sports News Blitz F1 writer Henry Eccles considers five burning questions to have come out of Florida.
Is Oscar Piastri McLaren’s main man now?
It certainly looks that way.
In Miami, the Aussie picked up his sixth win in F1, which puts him ahead of teammate Lando Norris on total career wins, despite the latter battling for the Drivers’ Championship for most of last season.
The win also represents Piastri’s 32nd-consecutive points finish in F1 – remarkably, the fourth-longest streak in the sport’s history.
It was not all doom and gloom for Norris, though, as he recovered well from a tough battle with Max Verstappen for the lead on lap one, which left him P6, to take second spot on the podium, having also secured victory in the Sprint race the day prior.
Unfortunately, that tussle with Verstappen, and another later on, showcased an ugly truth about Norris, one that sets him apart from his more clinical teammate.
Even though a lap one, turn one battle with the legendary Dutchman is no easy undertaking, losing four positions after three corners does not make for great reading.
Later on, Norris struggled to get past Verstappen again, this time on lap 15, and another squabble two laps later saw him have to give P2 back to the Red Bull driver after taking the position off the track.
He did eventually get the job done on lap 18, but it was a clear contrast to how Piastri handled the Dutchman four laps earlier.
Piastri made relatively easy work of Verstappen by darting to the outside of turn one on lap 14, anticipating his aggressive rival’s lock-up, and sailing through to take the lead of the race.
From that point, Piastri simply kept his cool and strolled to the chequered flag to take his third race win in a row – the first McLaren driver to do so since Mika Hakkinen in 1998.
With a 1-2 finish, McLaren’s dominance was on full display, Norris finishing 33 seconds ahead of George Russell in P3.
But it was Piastri’s race once again, his lead at the top of the Drivers’ standings extending to 16 points ahead of Norris.
READ MORE: Miami Grand Prix: A surprise Sprint pole, Ferrari chaos and another Oscar Piastri win
Are Williams faster than Ferrari?
You would have been laughed at for asking that question just a few months ago but, with the start to the season both teams have had, it does not sound so absurd anymore.
Alex Albon shone all weekend for Williams, finishing P4 in the Sprint race only to be demoted to P11 for a Safety Car infringement.
In the Grand Prix, the Thai driver equalled his best finish of 2025 in Melbourne to take P5, with teammate Carlos Sainz coming in at P9.
It meant the team scored their second-consecutive double-points finish, moving them 17 points ahead of Haas in the Constructors’ standings.
Williams, it must be said, were genuinely competitive in Miami, with Albon executing a smart move on Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli to take his eventual P5.
Albon said: “Honestly, we had a really good pace. I was quite comfortable in my position. I would even argue George [Russell] got a little lucky with the VSC, otherwise a P4 was possible today.
“Crazy to say, also just amazing to be able to see the podium – I had George and Max in my vision, in front of me the whole race without a Safety Car, so yeah that is just testament to the progress we are making at Williams.”
Despite eventually losing two places at once to the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on lap 34, Sainz still kept the Scuderia honest, even banging wheels with Hamilton on the last lap in an attempt to recover P8.
For all of Williams’ improvements, battling the Grove team for P8 is not where Ferrari want to be.
But after qualifying, in which Williams finished P6 and P7, while Leclerc and Hamilton languished in P8 and P12 respectively, the harsh reality, according to Hamilton, is that the Scuderia are deservedly behind on ‘pure pace’.
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How fed up is Lewis Hamilton?
The answer to that is: very.
Beaten by his teammate yet again and finishing down in P8, Hamilton has now made it into the top five in just one of the six GPs in 2025.
More specifically, however, it was that familiar Ferrari problem of race strategy that left the seven-time world champion fuming.
Having both drivers get past Sainz on lap 34, Ferrari set about hunting down Antonelli in P6, with Hamilton just behind Leclerc.
On a softer compound of tyres, the Brit‘s car ‘felt alive’ and he was clearly quicker than his teammate, asking the team to let him through for a clearer run at the Mercedes rookie.
But Ferrari dawdled, leading Hamilton to sarcastically tell his race engineer to ‘have a tea break’ while they made up their minds.
The swap was eventually made, but it was three laps too late.
Hamilton was let through but failed to get away from Leclerc, who himself then started to complain about picking up his teammate’s dirty air.
Seeing as the Briton failed to make inroads, the pair were later ordered to revert their positions, pushing Hamilton back into the chasing Sainz, just 1.4s behind.
The messy strategy again led Hamilton to quip at Adami: “You want me to let him pass as well?”
After the race, the former McLaren and Mercedes man told the media: “I was like, ‘come on guys, I want to win’. I’ve still got my fire in my belly. I could feel a bit of it really coming up there.
“I’m not going to apologise for being a fighter. I’m not going to apologise for still wanting it. I know everyone in the team does too.
“And I truly believe that when we fix some of the problems that we have with the car, we’ll be back in the fight with the Mercedes, with the Red Bulls. It just can’t come quick enough.”
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Just how good is Kimi Antonelli?
Ultimately, it was a weekend of ups and downs for young Antonelli, but he did more than enough in Miami to prove he is destined for the very top of the sport.
On Friday, the 18-year-old became the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history when he secured P1 in Sprint qualifying, beating the previous holder of that title, Sebastian Vettel, by over two years.
In the Sprint race on Saturday, however, the Italian dropped to P4 at the start in wet conditions and lost further ground thanks to a bizarre collision with Verstappen in the pit lane.
After penalties elsewhere, he ended up taking just two points in P7.
For the Grand Prix, Antonelli lined up an impressive P3 after missing out on another pole by just 0.067s to Verstappen, but he had to settle for a P6 finish by the end.
And yet, having never raced in Miami before, it could be argued the rookie has just had his best weekend in F1 so far.
Indeed, the Mercedes driver was singled out by Team Principal Toto Wolff for his performances in qualifying.
“I think the high point definitely was seeing his speed on a single lap,” Wolff said after the GP.
“You know that's another proof of his talent and a good indication to how the future can be.”
With Russell taking his time to kick into gear during the weekend, Antonelli certainly showed that he can step up and deliver for Mercedes, not only in the future like many foretold, but in the here and now.
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What is happening with Jack Doohan?
Unfortunately, it’s all over for the Aussie at Alpine.
Doohan has been under pressure from the very beginning of his F1 career, particularly ever since Alpine signed former Williams ace Franco Colapinto as reserve driver prior to the season getting underway.
And Miami certainly did not help the 22-year-old’s cause.
After failing to make it out of SQ1 during Sprint qualifying, a puncture forced him to retire from Sunday’s race after making first-lap contact with Liam Lawson.
It is not the Aussie’s first incident in F1 either, having had two big crashes already in 2025 – the first in his home race at Melbourne and the second during FP1 at Suzuka.
Doohan is also yet to score points in 2025, with a P13 finish at the Chinese GP his highest finish to date.
Miami was the final straw for Alpine, with it subsequently announced that Colapinto will replace Doohan at the next Grand Prix in Italy.
The Argentine joined Alpine off the back of an impressive half-season with Williams in 2024 and is said to be highly admired by Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s Executive Advisor, who has just been made Team Principal following Oli Oakes’ shock departure.
What next?
F1 returns to Europe for the Emilia Romagna GP on May 16, with the Grand Prix set to take place on Sunday at 2pm UK time. Fans can catch all the action on Sky Sports F1.
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