Miami GP conclusions: McLaren’s rocket ship, unstoppable Piastri and same old Ferrari

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri moved further clear at the top of the Drivers’ Championship with his third win in as many races.

The Australian matched a feat for McLaren last achieved by Mika Hakkinen in 1998 as the Woking team took another big step towards both titles already. Here are your conclusions from the 2025 Miami Grand Prix.

Time for McLaren to stop playing the humble card

Whether it was a conscious effort or a mindset that subconsciously ensnared everyone at the MTC – McLaren have been on a mission to insist they do not have the outright best car.

Oscar Piastri’s 40-second gap to the rest of the field means that approach is no longer realistic.

It may be a tactic to take the pressure off their drivers but rarely has a team been so hesitant to admit they have built an absolute rocket-ship. Piastri cut through Antonelli and then Verstappen with ease and even every inch of the four-time World Champion’s talent was not enough to keep him behind.

Norris too had little problem getting by the field after his lap one moment and you got the sense that neither driver were at their best, either.

Cars will suit certain tracks of course and Verstappen’s win in Suzuka shows that dominant teams can have an off day but, undoubtedly, McLaren now go into every race as heavy favourites.

In Oscar Piastri, they have a driver in red-hot form and it would take a catastrophic capitulation for anything other than both titles heading to Woking to occur.

Enough with the ‘tyre water’ gimmick, enough with complaining about Red Bull – it is time for Zak Brown and Andrea Stella to be bullish in their assessment.

Oscar Piastri is the only one that can stop Oscar Piastri winning the title

If the win in China was the first punch, a hattrick of successes may well be looked back as Piastri’s knockout blow to Lando Norris.

This time last year, Norris was celebrating becoming a race winner for the first time – something his team-mate had not achieved – yet fast forward 12 months and not only has Piastri won, he has done so more times than Norris has.

Every season Piastri has improved but this year he looks very close to the finished article. If a quali result is still sometimes short – he has taken pole just twice – he has the speed and race craft to more than make up for it in the race.

His battle with Verstappen was one of high skill with both drivers fighting desperately to stay ahead, but ultimately it was Piastri who triumphed in a move that would not have seemed out of place had Verstappen himself pulled it off.

The Australian’s lead at the top is 16 points with a quarter of the year gone and it is hard to see how anyone but himself will knock him off his perch.

Meet the new Ferrari, same as the old Ferrari

Aside from an espresso served with a slice of thin-cut pizza, there are few things more Italian than a Ferrari embarrassment.

In a display that will have been crucified in the Italian press, Ferrari were back to their most indecisive selves. It was this apprehension that frustrated Lewis Hamilton into mocking his own team and one that left Charles Leclerc with a painfully familiar exhausted expression on his face.

But away from the strategy blunders that cost both drivers a chance to attack Kimi Antonelli, it is the pace of the car that should be the true worry for Fred Vasseur.

Leclerc believed he drove a great lap in Q3 and the best it got him was eighth as both drivers watched in disbelief as Williams qualified ahead.

Even in the race, Williams were quicker. Carlos Sainz proved a thorn in both Ferrari drivers’ side but Alex Albon was too far up the order to even be a bother.

Ferrari are fourth in the Championship but unless major upgrades come, and quickly, they will more than likely stay there for the remainder of the season.

F1 needs more jeopardy for the lower-order teams

Whatever Aston Martin’s sponsors are paying, they may soon wonder if it is too much. The omission of either car from the broadcast aside from when they are spinning out of control is a visual representation of just how off it they have been this season.

Aston are not alone in this. Sauber have become a forgotten team while some viewers may soon struggle to pick Nico Hulkenberg out of a line-up.

The problem with this is that teams are perfectly happy to be dead last, simply because there is no jeopardy.

More from the Miami Grand Prix from PlanetF1.com

Miami GP: Piastri continues winning streak after more Verstappen v Norris fireworks

Tempers flare between Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari in Miami GP radio transcript

All 10 teams know they will be on the grid next season, regardless of what happens this year, meaning if you have nothing to fight for a certain stage of the season you may as well pack up and focus on next year.

For the fans, this creates an incredibly underwhelming viewing experience and one where you could quite easily pick the bottom five drivers even before the lights have gone out. If McLaren continue on this road, it will soon not just be the bottom teams that have nothing to play for and with the spectre of 2026 looming, more and more focus will be put on it, making 2025 a lame duck.

Relegation is a tool used across sporting leagues to ensure teams at least try until the end but F1 is not set up to do this and, considering they get a vote in such matters, teams would never support the introduction of it. But there does need to be something to encourage the lower teams to at least fight until the end of the season.

Money of course is a motive but considering a lot of teams are already profitable, finishing lower down the order with its extra development benefits is a positive rather than the negative it should be.

Drivers and teams will explain it away as a focus for next season but for a sport that bills itself as the fastest in the world, having some distinct backmarkers is not a great look.

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