Piastri: McLaren’s Miami F1 race form was “unexpected”

Oscar Piastri showed great pace in Miami before his race “unravelled”

Oscar Piastri admits that his McLaren Formula 1 team’s impressive pace in the Miami GP was “unexpected” after the cars showed mixed form over the previous two days.

While team mate and race winner Lando Norris had the full update package Piastri had what Andrea Stella called only 50% of it, and was notably missing the revised floor and sidepods.

Despite not having all of the new kit Piastri ran third in the early laps of the race after jumping up from sixth on the grid, before passing Charles Leclerc for second.

However his afternoon was spoiled when he was hit by Carlos Sainz while battling with the Ferrari driver, and he had to pit for a new front wing. He eventually finished 13^th.

“I think in these conditions on this track, the pace we had today was unexpected,” he said when asked by this writer about the value of the upgrades.

“I think we don’t fully understand why, we were a bit up and down on different days. But I think the fact that we can win a race on pace is a very, very encouraging sign for the rest of the year.”

Although obviously disappointed by the outcome of his own race Piastri was encouraged by Norris’s win.

“I think definitely a lot of positives to come from today,” he said. “I think, for both of us the car was really strong. I think for Lando to win the race on pace, and to pull away from Max [Verstappen] after the safety car, I think that’s a very, very encouraging sign.

“So very happy for him, and for the whole team. I think we deserve it. Our trajectory in the last 12 months has been towards this moment. And yeah, also for Lando, I think it’s been a long time coming. So I’m happy for him.”

Regarding his own race he noted: “I was happy with the start. And then the fact that I could get past Leclerc as well was unexpected coming into the race.

“So from that point, I was quite happy and was reasonably comfortable with him behind me there. Just the timing of the safety car wasn’t ideal, and it unravelled from there.”