Oscar Piastri made it back-to-back wins in the Middle East with the Mclaren man following up a solid drive in Bahrain by claiming race honours in Saudi Arabia.
Piastri heads for Miami at the summit of the Drivers’ Championship, with his teammate Lando Norris ten points behind him and third-place Max Verstappen a further two points back.
Will the young Aussie make it four wins from six starts, or will his run of solid form come to an end in the States? Darry Worthington gives his verdict on that question as he runs the rule over the 2025 Miami Grand Prix.
Miami Grand Prix | Sunday 5 May | Miami International Autodrome
To Win Race Outright
Lando Norris 14/10 | Oscar Piastri 14/10 | Max Verstappen 5/1 | Charles LeClerc 20/1 | George Russell 14/1 | Lewis Hamilton 35/1
Previous Race
I had just about as good a race weekend as Oscar Piastri with the young Aussie’s win in Saudi coupled with Charles LeClerc’s third-place finish, seeing yours truly go two from two with his tips.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was rather eventful from the start, with a collision between Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda seeing the safety car deployed on Lap 1. There was also a five-second time penalty for Max Verstappen, who was deemed to have gained an advantage by leaving the track limits on the first corner.
Verstappen would serve his time penalty on his second pit stop, which saw him drop to fifth and lose ground on Piastri. And while the Dutch Ace fought back superbly – he would cross the line with only 2.8 seconds between him and Piastri – he would ultimately have to settle for second place. The final podium berth would go to the Ferrari of Charles LeClerc.
Lando Norris would be the best of the rest, with last season’s Drivers Championship runner-up finishing in fourth. It was a pretty decent salvage job considering he had crashed out in qualifying and started the race in tenth. The McLaren man was joined in the ‘Top 6’ by the twin Mercedes of George Russell (fifth) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (sixth).
Lewis Hamilton was next across the line in his Ferrari. The former world champion is not having the sweetest of honeymoons with his new team as he continues to struggle to keep pace with the big boys at the top.
Williams managed a decent points haul out in the desert with Carlos Sainz finishing eighth and Alexander Albon taking ninth, while the final points scoring position went to rookie Isack Hadjar, who brought his RB home in tenth.
Track
While the backdrop to the Miami International Circuit has been something of a running joke since its debut in 2022, the actual track was decent enough and produced some solid action over the past three years and should offer up another good race this coming weekend.
Drivers will face 57 laps of the 5.4 kilometre track, which features 19 corners with turn 11 (a left-hander) and turn 17 (a tighter left-hander that leads into a massive straight) touted to see most of the overtaking action.
There are three DRS zones on the track, which cater to the American sports public’s urge to see continuous wheel-to-wheel racing action.
The Miami Grand Prix had been dominated by Red Bull and Max Verstappen up until last season, with Lando Norris’ win at the track seeing Max Verstappen’s two-race winning streak in Florida come to an end. Verstappen still managed to maintain his podium form at the venue as the Red Bull ace finished second, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles LeClerc.
Looking ahead to the weather forecast for this weekend, we could well be in for an extremely wet race weekend with a storm front set to hit Miami in the next couple of days.
Value Bet
Charles LeClerc – Podium Yes @ 20/1
“If it ain’t broken, don’t try to fix it,” Is my thinking behind this weekend’s value bet. LeClerc bagged his first podium finish of the season last time out, having just missed out on the ‘top 3’ in the two races prior to Saudi. He has a tidy record out in Miami, finishing second in 2022 and third last year. I’m backing him to grab another podium finish this weekend.
To Win Race Outright
Had it not been for that time penalty in Saudi, I reckon Verstappen would have claimed the victory last time out. His Red Bull seems to be quick enough to cause the McLarens problems, and with a tidy track record of two wins and a second-place finish in Miami, he’s certainly worth backing this weekend.
