Miami GP takeaways: McLaren in another world, Ferrari in crisis

We'll offer our takeaways following each race weekend this year. Here are our thoughts after the Miami Grand Prix.

Moments that decided the race 👀

McLaren crushes Verstappen's valiant effort

The 57-lap spectacle in Miami likely would've been forgotten faster than it happened had it not been for Max Verstappen starting from pole position.

The reigning world champion stole pole position from the grasps of both McLaren drivers Saturday and did his mightiest to hold them off for as long as he could Sunday. Unfortunately, his valiant race craft could only keep Oscar Piastri at bay for 13 laps and Lando Norris for 17, and his aggressive defense ultimately came at the cost of valuable seconds.

It confirmed what many already suspected: McLaren is in another league. Piastri would go on to win with a 4.6-second gap to his teammate and a whopping 37.6-second lead on Mercedes' George Russell in third place. Verstappen wound up nearly 40 seconds off the lead.

The drivers' championship is appearing more and more like a McLaren-only battle, but Piastri is creating some separation from Norris. The victory in Miami made Piastri the first McLaren driver to win three straight since Mika Hakkinen in 1998 and gives the Australian more career wins than his teammate.

Verstappen is sliding out of the championship picture but remains the measuring stick for all drivers, and Piastri clearly seems best fit to usurp the Red Bull driver. Piastri, held up for a few laps, eventually cleared Verstappen without issue, while his teammate lost positions on a Lap 1 squabble with the reigning champion and then had to momentarily hand the position back to Verstappen on his second go-around before passing him shortly after.

While Norris benefitted from Verstappen potentially spoiling his own race in the wheel-to-wheel combat, Norris lost the bigger battle to his teammate because of it. One McLaren driver has handled Verstappen without hurting himself in the process, and it's no surprise that's the driver leading the championship.

Ferrari melts down in Miami heat

"Have a tea break while you're at it."

No, that wasn't the radio message a happy Lewis Hamilton sent to his Ferrari pit wall because he and Charles Leclerc were cruising to a positive result in Miami. It was a statement of frustration as the team found itself coming undone at the seams.

Perhaps Hamilton should have suggested a nice cup of espresso as the Italian team's indecisiveness left the seven-time world champion clearly annoyed in the cockpit.

Hamilton found himself stuck behind Leclerc after the duo passed Carlos Sainz on Lap 34 for seventh and eighth place, respectively. The only problem: Hamilton was on the faster medium tires. In Ferrari's defense, a swap was difficult with Sainz still behind them, but the decision to let him pass Leclerc could have likely come at least a lap earlier than at the end of Lap 39.

To make matters worse, Hamilton struggled to stretch a gap on Leclerc, and now the latter was complaining about his tires overheating due to being stuck behind his teammate. All this while Sainz was still within striking distance behind them. The dilemma came to an end on Lap 52 when Hamilton gave the place back to Leclerc, but not without sarcastically asking his pit wall if he should let the Williams driver ahead of him as well.

Say what you will about the comical nature of McLaren's "Papaya Rules" team orders, but at least those swaps had race victories at stake. The frustration between the Ferrari pilots and their team was over seventh and eighth, worth a combined 10 points.

Ferrari was unable to handle the heat in Miami, much like it hasn't handled expectations for 2025. Leclerc finished 57 seconds off the victory as the Scuderia were comfortably the fifth-fastest car, falling behind even Williams. It might be time to ring the alarm for a crisis in Maranello.

Williams not messing around

Williams has been the best of the rest for most of 2025, comfortably distant from the top four constructors in race pace. In Miami, Williams was determined to crash the party.

Not only did the team score 12 points - its highest total in a race this season - it went blow-for-blow with some front-runners. It looked like 1997 on the track as Williams battled Ferrari for the title of fourth-best team in Miami, and it won the war.

Alex Albon tied his best result of the season, finishing fifth. More importantly, he ended up ahead of Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and both Ferrari drivers. Sainz finished just behind the two Ferraris in ninth but made life extremely difficult for them.

Only last year, team principal James Vowles reckoned 2025 could be a difficult season. So far, it seems anything but. Williams has already produced its best season of the ground-effect era, and it only needed six races and two sprints to do so.

There's no telling how long this good fortune will last, as Sainz revealed last weekend the team is choosing not to invest in 2025 and instead go all-out on the 2026 regulations. It's a shame if that ultimately stalls Williams' progress, as it looks like the FW47 could be its best car in a very long time.

Driver of the Day 🙌

Alex Albon: Neither of the McLaren front-runners had a perfect day: Piastri gets docked for qualifying fourth, while Verstappen toyed with Norris again. That leaves us with Albon, who went from seventh on the starting grid to fifth. He's been the engine of a rejuvenated Williams squad.

They said what? 🗣️

Norris on going wheel-to-wheel with Verstappen: "What can I say, if I don't go for it, people complain, if I go for it, people complain, so you can't win. But that's the way it is with Max, it's crash or don't pass - unless you get it really right and put it in the perfect position. But I paid the price for not doing a good enough job today, but I'm still happy with second."

He later added, "(Verstappen is) fighting hard. You know, he's ruined his own race, not racing very smart, and he probably could have finished third today, and he didn't because of that."

Verstappen on whether he's unpredictable for other drivers: "Why, is that a problem? (I'm trying to defend) like everyone else."

Piastri on McLaren's rapid ascension: "I remember two years ago here in Miami we were genuinely the slowest team - I think we got lapped twice - and to now where we've won the grand prix by over 35 seconds to third is an unbelievable result."

Hamilton on voicing frustrations with strategy over team radio: "In that moment, for sure I was like, 'Come on, let's make a concise decision, really quick, let's not waste time.' I'm sure people didn't like certain comments, but you gotta understand people say way worse things than I say, so it was more sarcastic than anything. I'm not frustrated now."

What's next?

F1 takes a weekend off to travel to Italy for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, May 18 at 9 a.m. ET.

Verstappen's won the last three races in Imola, with Hamilton winning the inaugural event in 2020. Leclerc finished third last year, marking Ferrari's only podium in four attempts at the Emilia Romagna GP. Norris has finished on the podium the last three races held at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.