Uncovered: How Norris and Verstappen helped Piastri seal third straight win

Oscar Piastri secured his third consecutive victory, becoming the first McLaren driver to do so since Mika Häkkinen in 1998 in an incredible season so far for the Australian.

Thanks to the intense battle between Lando Norris and Verstappen Verstappen, both at the race start and later in their on-track battles, Piastri played it smart and capitalised on every opportunity that came his way. Let’s look at the telemetry data to understand how Lando and Max helped Oscar extend his lead in the championship.

McLaren MCL39 dominant in Miami

This year in Miami, softer tyre compounds were used compared to the last year’s GP, but strategies remained almost identical – one-stop with a combination of hard and soft tyres. This led to a somewhat uneventful second half of the race, with the top positions staying the same.

Right at the race start, we got the drama everyone expected with Verstappen on pole position and Norris lining up second. Both drivers had excellent starts, and at Turn 1, Max held on to his lead. But a braking error from the four-time champion allowed Lando to close the gap, and the two went side by side through Turn 1 and into Turn 2.

What followed was a classic Max move of giving his opponent no room. Norris went off track, lost momentum, and by the time he rejoined, he had dropped down to P6.

On the other hand, Piastri remained patient, applied pressure on Kimi Antonelli, who was in P2 at the time, and overtook him on lap 4. Next up was Max.

In the following laps, the full potential of the McLaren became clear. Piastri was clearly faster than Max and was simply waiting for the right moment to attack, while Lando recovered from lap one to run third.

The MCL39 was a rocket in Miami – race pace data shows Piastri was over 0.6 seconds faster per lap than Max. They were on another level, and anything less than a 1-2 finish would’ve been a disappointment.

After a few laps of great racing, Piastri took the lead on lap 14 after Max locked up his front right tyre into Turn 1 in a rare mistake from him. Norris took full advantage of that, immediately getting into the DRS zone after his team-mate’s overtake and preparing an attack of his own on Max.

Now it was Norris’ turn to battle Max, which is something he’s had plenty of experience with. On lap 15, Lando had a great chance with DRS into Turn 1, but Max outbraked him brilliantly and held the position.

Lando tried again on lap 17 at Turn 11 despite it not typical seen as an overtaking spot. But he misjudged it, went off track, and had to give the position back shortly after. Only on the next lap did Norris manage to finally get past Max for P2.

This battle cost Lando too much time and likely ended his chances of fighting for the win. By the time he overtook Max, Piastri had already built up a lead of almost 9 seconds, which he gained in just a few laps. Norris needed to pick his moment better if he wanted a shot at beating his team-mate, who is also his main championship rival.

Could Lando have fought for the win if he had lost less time battling Max?

The data says absolutely yes. From the moment Lando moved up to P2, he was faster than his team-mate until the safety car – the difference was small, but still there.

However, Lando wasn’t the only driver who came out worse from this battle. Max also lost valuable time, and George Russell in the Mercedes capitalised on it by significantly closing the gap to the Red Bull driver.

On lap 26, Antonelli went in for a tyre change, which was very likely an attempt to undercut Max. To cover himself, the four-time World Champion pitted the very next lap and successfully defended his position. But just two laps later, a Virtual Safety Car was deployed, allowing Russell to pit and rejoin the track ahead of Verstappen.

Russell managed to hold the position until the end and secured another impressive podium finish in the 2025 season.

While Piastri celebrates a fourth Grand Prix victory for F1 2025 and a 16-point lead in the Drivers’ standings, Norris has to be wondering what could’ve been had he not tangled with Verstappen – again.

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