(Motorsports news) Having prevailed in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the Australian delivered a masterclass in Florida as he came from fourth on the grid to seal another eye-catching win.
Max Verstappen had initially converted his pole into a lead, but the defending world champion soon encountered issues with his Red Bull and dropped off the pace.
That enabled Piastri and McLaren teammate Lando Norris to go head to head at the front of the pack, the rest of the field a considerable distance behind.
However, it was Piastri who fended off the Briton for his fourth win of the season and a fifth in six races for McLaren.
While there was just 4.630 seconds separating the two McLarens, George Russell in the Mercedes was third yet 37.644 seconds off the pace.
What did Piastri, Norris say?
Speaking after the race, Piastri said: “I won the race that I really wanted to. Yesterday was a tricky day, qualifying was probably one of my trickiest for the year and to come away with a win still on Sunday is an impressive result.
“Obviously there was a bit of argy-bargy at Turn One that helped me out a little bit. I was aware enough to avoid Max [Verstappen] coming through and from that point onwards I knew I had a good pace advantage and the car was unbelievable.
He added: “The first sting was really really strong and on the hard stint I was obviously struggling a little bit so it was a good thing that I built that gap in the first stint.
“Towards the end I started to get things a bit more back under control but there’s still definitely some things to work on, but I’m very happy with the win and the points and leave Miami on top.”
As for Norris, he was rueful over a move on Verstappen that failed to pay off at turn two, saying: “I mean it’s never the best feeling but the team have done an amazing job, so I can’t fault them at all. Good pit stops, great pace.
“We were up the road, so it was a good feeling. Oscar drove well. Max put up a good fight as always and I paid the price. but it’s the way it is.”
On the first-lap move, he added: “What can I say? If I don’t go for it, people will complain. If I go for it, people complain. So you can’t win. It is the way it is with Max, it’s crash or don’t pass.
“You actually get it really right and put him in a perfect position, then you can just about get there. I paid the price for not doing a good enough job today. I’m still happy with second.”
How does the title race look?
Piastri now sits 16 point clear of Norris in the Drivers Championship, with Verstappen now a sizeable 32 points behind the leader.
Russell is keeping pace with the Dutchman, trailing by just six points, but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is a massive 40 points further adrift in fifth.
Also read: Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari hasn’t gone right, but why?
