McLaren has won Miami titles in the past two years and Norris won his first professional F1 victory last season.
“It's incredible, it's hard work,” Piastri said of McLaren.
“I remember in Miami two years ago, we were really the slowest team. I think we were beaten twice and so far the Grand Prix won the Grand Prix with over 35 seconds to the third time, which is an incredible result of everyone's hard work.”
Piastri is the first McLaren driver to have three consecutive F1 races in 28 years. Mika Hakkinen won the finale of the 1997 season and then won the first two games in 1998. His lead over Norris in the driver’s standings improved to 16 points, while Verstappen scored 32 points on Norris. Norris won last season's victory in Miami with a two-year streak of Verstappen around Hard Rock Stadium. Norris also won the sprint race on Saturday – Piastri dominated, but the late safety car gave him a win – but Verstappen won pole position in qualifying.
Verstappen announced the birth of his first child Friday morning, determined to refute the myth that his fatherhood made him a more conservative driver. It was obvious that he flew away from the start and then actively got rid of Norris' leading challenge.
Red Bull and McLaren are side by side, and Norris tries to lead the Dutch, but he runs the track and loses four positions. Norris said Verstappen forced him off track and could do nothing but try to avoid hitting the wall – but F1 did nothing against Verstappen.
“What can I say? If I don't, people complain. If I go, people complain.” “You can't win.
Verstappen was unapologetic after the fourth fading and insisted that he participated in the rules.
“I mean, I have nothing to lose, so I want to have some fun there, too,” Verstappen said, adding that McLaren's strong start to the season was “not frustrating at all.”
“We're here to win, and today we've been away for a few miles, so that doesn't matter,” Verstappen said.
Norris recovered from the early events and returned to the front line, but before Piastri took control from Verstappen on lap 14 of lap 57. McLaren has decided that Piastri and Norris can compete with each other without team orders, and Norris is cleared to challenge their Australian teammates to win.
In the exhausted circle, Norris was able to close the gap, but could never catch Piastri and ranked second with a 1-2 score. The two have nearly 40 seconds advantage over Mercedes's George Russell, who ranks third.
Williams' Alex Albon was fifth, Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli was sixth, Charles Leclerc was sixth after Ferrari ordered Lewis Hamilton to give his teammates a place in the closed circle. Hamilton is eighth.
Carlos Sainz Jr.
Dorn has questions
Jack Doohan met another car on the opening lap and then crashed on lap two – a rookie uneasy show of chatting endlessly about to be replaced by Franco Colapinto for the Alps.
Argentina media reported that Corpinto will replace Doohan in the next match in Italy later this month. Alpine principal Oliver Oakes, who was fired at the start of the Miami weekend, said the Australian will still be in Imola seat “like today”.
“I think this is a sponsor of cameras outside Argentina when he's going to get in the car,” Oaks said of the speculation. “We've been open as a team that's just noise. Jack needs to continue to do well. But it's natural to always have speculation.
“Jack is our driver and Pierre (Gasly) these days,” he continued. “We are very clear about that. We always evaluate it, but that's what it is today.”
Doohan failed to finish two laps on Sunday and finished the game, and he hasn't scored in six games this season. His best result is ranked 13th in the Chinese Grand Prix.
