Miami Grand Prix Driver Ratings

Oscar Piastri took the spoils on Sunday as McLaren completed the perfect weekend, winning both the sprint and the main race in Miami. Piastri capitalized on the first-lap drama, which saw Max Verstappen and Lando Norris go wheel-to-wheel into the first couple of corners. Verstappen forced Norris wide at Turn 2, gifting positions to Kimi Antonelli and Piastri. Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson collided at the first corner, causing the first virtual safety car of the race and ending Doohan’s day with a puncture.

Piastri delivered an assured drive in the clearly fastest McLaren. After getting ahead of Antonelli, he pursued Verstappen, made a decisive pass, and drove off into the distance. Norris recovered from the first-corner scuffle, which pushed him down to sixth, and managed to pass the two Mercedes and Verstappen after a great battle. However, Piastri had already built a nine-second lead by that time. Norris closed the gap to just over three seconds by the flag but couldn’t catch his teammate.

George Russell took the final podium position, benefiting from the second virtual safety car to leapfrog Verstappen in the pits. Williams had a much-improved weekend, with Alex Albon finishing fifth and Carlos Sainz ninth. Kimi Antonelli made history by becoming the youngest driver to take pole in any Qualifying format, and still has two years to break Sebastian Vettel’s record for the youngest pole-sitter for a main race.

The race in Miami was full of intrigue, with rain on Saturday spicing up the sprint. However, the threatened rain on Sunday never arrived, leaving the race humid and tense. McLaren’s dominance was clear, and they took full advantage.

1. Oscar Piastri

Piastri completed the hat-trick of wins in Miami, to overtake his teammate in the F1 wins list. He took advantage of the squabbling in front at the start, made decisive passes, and drove off in the fastest car. He extends his championship lead to 16 points and is starting to look like THE title contender.
Rating: 8.6

2. Lando Norris

The safety car helped Norris in the sprint, but there was no such luck on Sunday. After a better start than Verstappen, he was pushed wide at Turn 2 and dropped to sixth. He made some nice passes to recover to second but couldn’t catch Piastri in the end.
Rating: 8.3

3. George Russell

A great result for Russell, who took advantage of the virtual safety car to leapfrog Verstappen in the pits and secure third, despite not being fully on the pace all weekend. He held off the Dutchman to the end and even a Red Bull appeal post-race.
Rating: 7.9

4. Max Verstappen

Not Max’s finest race. Despite holding off Norris from pole at the first corner, he couldn’t keep the McLarens back once they found their groove and was unlucky to lose third during the virtual safety car. Max knows he needs to be aggressive against the McLarens as his car simply doesn’t have the pace to challenge in the long term.
Rating: 7.7

5. Alex Albon

A great result for Williams. Albon qualified seventh, had a nice battle with his teammate early on before pulling away and securing a comfortable fifth place at the flag. He was working around a water pressure issue all race, so this result is even more impressive. My driver of the day.
Rating: 8.7

6. Kimi Antonelli

A fantastic sprint qualifying saw Antonelli take pole, but he couldn’t hold the lead in the damp conditions. In the race, he started third but couldn’t keep pace with the frontrunners. He lost time in the pits, trying an undercut just at the wrong time, with the virtual safety car coming out the next lap. Helped his teammate jump Verstappen, though, so good inadvertent teamwork from the rookie.
Rating: 8.1

7. Charles Leclerc

A tricky weekend for Ferrari. Leclerc crashed in the sprint reconnaissance lap and ran in the lower points throughout the race. The most excitement seemed to come on the radio as the Ferrari drivers scabbled over who should lead their attack but neither was able to make an impression.
Rating: 7.3

8. Lewis Hamilton

A podium in the sprint was Lewis’ weekend highlight, but he cut a frustrated figure during the main race. He got stuck behind Ocon for the first half but showed great pace once on the mediums, but got stuck again, this time behind his teammate and Sainz. Once released, he wasn’t able to pull away and had to let Leclerc back through. Bit of a mess from Ferrari there.
Rating: 7.4

9. Carlos Sainz

A solid weekend with double points for Williams. He wasn’t able to keep his teammate behind and then got stuck behind the Ferraris to pick up ninth place. He is showing more consistent pace though, which is encouraging for him and the team as they secure best of the rest status.
Rating: 7.9

10. Yuki Tsunoda

A relatively under-the-radar weekend for Tsunoda, who qualified and finished tenth but is definitely heading in the right direction. They should have given him the second Red Bull seat from the start.
Rating: 7.5

11. Isack Hadjar

Another decent performance from Hadjar, who is battling Antonelli for rookie of the year honours. He was unlucky to miss out on points, finishing just 0.2 seconds behind Tsunoda.
Rating: 7.6

12. Esteban Ocon

Ocon qualified ninth but finished twelfth, unable to hold onto a points-paying position as some faster cars came past. A better weekend after being thoroughly outperformed by his teammate in Jeddah.
Rating: 7.4

13. Pierre Gasly

A solid recovery drive from eighteenth to thirteenth, but Gasly never troubled the points. This alpine is proving quite inconsistent.
Rating: 7.2

14. Nico Hulkenberg

Not much to say for Hulkenberg, who started sixteenth and finished fourteenth.
Rating: 6.9

15. Fernando Alonso

Another tough weekend for Alonso, who crashed in the sprint and finished fifteenth after a lazy spin in the early stages. Still no points in 2025 for the Spaniard.
Rating: 6.2

16. Lance Stroll

Stroll finished last on the road, continuing a season where he is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
Rating: 6.1

Retirees

17. Liam Lawson

Liam was involved in the first corner collision with Doohan, which put him to the back and the Aussie out of the race. He wasn’t able to recover before retiring on lap 37.

Rating: 5.5

18. Gabriel Bortoleto

Gabriel retired on lap 30 with engine issues after running towards the back until then. Did outqualify his teammate and got into Q2 but that’s where his weekend peaked.

Rating: 5.8

19. Ollie Bearman

A tricky weekend for Ollie, he qualified last and wasn’t able to finish the race, retiring on lap 27 with an engine failure. Never good when your biggest moment is the novelty of seeing an engine failure, which is rare nowadays.

Rating: 5.2

20. Jack Doohan

Another race for Jack that ended before it could get going. He did well to outqualify his teammate but collided with Lawson at Turn 1 as they tussled over the same piece of tarmac. Their contact caused a puncture, and he retired before he could complete one circuit.