Charles Leclerc wrestled his Ferrari to seventh place in a processional Miami Grand Prix, as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri seized the spotlight with a superbly executed victory that reshaped the title fight.
Oscar Piastri put on a championship-worthy display at the Miami Grand Prix, converting a fourth-place start into a dominant win for McLaren. With calm control and strategic brilliance, the 24-year-old Australian passed both Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen in the early stages, building an unassailable lead over teammate Lando Norris to claim his fourth win in six races. While Piastri celebrated, it was a far more frustrating day for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, who once again found themselves mired in traffic and out of podium contention.
Starting eighth on the grid, Leclerc opted for medium tyres while teammate Lewis Hamilton—now in red—began on hards. The Monegasque held position in the opening laps but quickly became stuck in a DRS train with little room to manoeuvre. A mid-race Virtual Safety Car, triggered by Oliver Bearman’s retirement, gave the team a narrow strategic window: Hamilton pitted immediately and gained time, while Leclerc stopped a lap later, losing precious seconds and rejoining just behind his teammate.
The two Ferraris, running in tandem, managed to pass Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard went wide. In an effort to chase down Antonelli for sixth, Ferrari ordered a position swap, allowing Hamilton to lead the charge. But the gap proved too wide and, in a show of procedural fairness, the team returned Leclerc to seventh before the finish. It was a tactical, if unspectacular, race for the Scuderia, who left Florida with ten points from Sunday’s race and six from Saturday’s sprint.
Leclerc cut a frustrated figure after the flag. “It’s been a tough weekend for us,” he said. “We’ve made some good progress over the last few races, but I just didn’t have that same feeling in the car this weekend. I was managing tyre wear early on and then stuck in dirty air. I pushed towards the end, but it just wasn’t enough.”
Team Principal Fred Vasseur echoed the sentiment. “We didn’t quite get the balance right, particularly in qualifying. In free air, our pace was close to Mercedes and Red Bull, but we struggled in traffic. Our strategy was solid—pitting both drivers under the VSC—but we couldn’t make the difference when it counted.”
Now sitting atop the drivers’ standings, Piastri leads Norris by 16 points and Verstappen by 32, with McLaren’s superior race pace and tyre management giving them a clear advantage. Ferrari, by contrast, remain in striking distance but need a stronger qualifying and race package to keep up with the leading trio.
With six races across three continents now complete, Formula 1 heads into its European phase. The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola is next up in a fortnight’s time, followed closely by Charles Leclerc’s all-important home race in Monaco at the end of May—where the local favourite will be hoping to deliver a standout performance in front of his home crowd.
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Photo source: Scuderia Ferrari Media Centre