Oscar Piastri‘s third race win in a row has seen him extend his lead in the Formula 1 drivers’ championship over team-mate Lando Norris to 16 points after a quarter of the season and usurp Max Verstappen in two Grand Prix.
The Australian is just the fourth driver to have achieved the feat of three in a row under F1’s hybrid regulations after Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Verstappen, delivering on the promise of his junior career and vindicating McLaren‘s decision to pursue him during that contract saga with Alpine.
But with his last two wins largely decided by Verstappen-related incidents at the first two corners, an insight can be gained into where he has gained the upper-hand on Norris.
Norris loses out in Miami
The critical part of the Miami Grand Prix last weekend came at Turn 2, where Verstappen shuffled Norris off track following a snap of oversteer. The Red Bull driver had been wide in Turn 1 as he attempted to defend his pole position from the Briton and as Norris took to the gap created, Verstappen struggled to control his car, although he did keep the RB21 on track.
Norris had no choice other than to leave the circuit to avoid an incident and saw Verstappen retain the lead ahead of Kimi Antonelli, Piastri, George Russell and Alex Albon.
The Dutchman was not penalised for the move, in fact not even investigated, with his car ahead at the apex – a view deemed good enough under the current racing guidelines.
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With Verstappen‘s way of racing well known by now and, crucially, legal as per the regulations, Norris has again been questioned about his racecraft when up against his rival. Suggesting the McLaren driver’s racecraft is poor is a nonsense given how he has cut through fields before and again did in Miami.
Norris was the fastest on track at the end of the race and data shows he would have been the lead McLaren had he negotiated Verstappen without incident.
Could he have done more in this particular situation? Probably not considering the gap that opened up and the proximity of Antonelli behind. The issue for Norris is that it’s not the first time he has come out worse in direct combat with Verstappen.
Piastri using rules to his advantage?
While Norris has been accused of being ‘too nice’ in his racing, Piastri has found a ruthless edge to his racecraft and started to use the rules as they are agreed.
Verstappen-esque would be one way to put how he ran the four-time champion wide at the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – where the Dutchman was penalised for straight-lining the corner – and he pulled off a very similar move on Antonelli at the start of the sprint in Miami, though Norris would take advantage of a safety car to jump ahead of Piastri to win the shortened event.
So he has taken Verstappen‘s style and applied it to his own racecraft – again, whether you like it or not, it’s legal. What was impressive about Piastri though was how he outfoxed Verstappen in direct combat in Miami.
Both McLaren drivers took a similar amount of time to get past the Red Bull and while Norris was again shuffled out by Verstappen during his chase – an incident that drew a one-fingered salute from the Briton – he eventually soared past with DRS.
Piastri meanwhile beat Verstappen in a game of racing chess, never putting his car in danger, realising what Verstappen was going to do and consistently pulling his McLaren back to a safe space to then get better traction from the corner on a wider, more conventional line.
To actually pass the Dutchman, he forced a defence into Turn 17, putting Verstappen out of position. Better drive and DRS assistance over the start-finish line allowed Piastri to draw alongside and again force his rival to defend.
Knowing that Verstappen would attempt to get ahead by the apex and expel any chance of penalisation for any potential incident, Piastri broke as late as he could on the outside and forced him into a mistake. The Australian waited to the last moment to turn in and instead of chasing the apex, cut back on Verstappen to take the lead.
It was textbook racing from Piastri and showed that he has cracked how Verstappen goes racing. Twice in two races he has come out on the right side of Verstappen – something that very rarely happens.
Miami showed that Norris has the speed advantage over Piastri, he was faster in qualifying and race trim. But the championship leader seems to have solved the Verstappen puzzle and with the Red Bull unlikely to shy away across the remainder of the season, that could be key in the race for the drivers’ title.
