Piastri has converted a “messy” qualifying performance into yet another race win in Miami, picking up his fourth of the year so far.
The Australian driver has increased his lead in the championship, putting a little extra padding between him and his teammate, Lando Norris, in the standings.
Finishing in a very distant third was George Russell, who recovered from 5th in qualifying to finish on the podium.
With 18 races still left of the season, Piastri can’t get complacent just yet.
But considering how well he’s performed so far, his chances of a maiden title are looking pretty good.
Piastri made full use of his MCL39, finishing 4 seconds clear of Norris, and some 30 seconds ahead of George Russell in his Mercedes.
Starting the race in fourth, the 24 year old completely wrote off his chances of a better finish.
Piastri was so downbeat, in fact, that he almost went back on a bet he made with Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson on Thursday.
Piastri promised Jefferson that he’d do a viral dance move called the griddy if he won the Grand Prix.
After a “messy” Q3 by his own standards, Piastri didn’t even bother practicing, genuinely thinking another race win was out of his hands.
But that would bite him on the bum after the race, leaving him ill prepared after taking the 6th win of his career in Miami.
Fronting the media during his post-race press conference, the Melbourne boy said it was “the one and only time” you would see him do the Griddy.
Piastri made up a place in the opening lap after an incident between Norris and Verstappen sent his papaya teammate down into sixth.
Talking with Jenson Button after the race, Piastri said the “argy bargy” between Norris and Verstappen at turn 2 helped him out a little bit.
Piastri had no trouble getting past Kimi Antonelli ahead of turn 11, saying after the race how nice it was of the Mercedes rookie to not put up too much of a fight. Driving a slower car, Kimi knew it wasn’t worth the trouble.
Looming ominously ahead, however, was the ever difficult Max Verstappen.
Strapped into the blisteringly quick MCL39, Piastri had no trouble catching up to the back of Verstappen’s RB21.
But as the young Australian has learnt rather quickly this season, catching up to Verstappen is one thing; actually overtaking him is a whole different ball game.
Piastri said he “tried pretty hard” to get past the 4-time champion.
But knowing he had pace “from the get go,” all Piastri had to do was bide his time and pick his moment.
Despite him being in a slower car, Piastri said he expected a little resistance from Verstappen.
“I knew it was gonna be a matter of when I got past, not if,” he said.
Forcing the reigning champ into a moment on lap 8, Piastri’s time finally came.
Going too deep into turn one and locking up, Piastri eased right on past Verstappen and into the lead.
Finally out in clear air, Piastri stretched his legs and never looked back, putting a sizable gap between him and Verstappen.
Piastri was 9 seconds clear before the second safety car of the race halted proceedings.
Once he pitted for hard tires, however, Piastri’s pace dropped somewhat, saying that his second stint wasn’t “the strongest of his life” after the race.
But having built a gap up front, and being fast when it counted, Piastri held on to take another race win.
Never one to be satisfied, however, Piastri said there was still room for improvement.
Qualifying on pole for three out of the last six races so far, Oscar had his worst performance of the season in Miami.
Piastri said he was “pretty frustrated” after lining up 4th for the big race.
Piastri knows that he can’t rely on good fortune every race weekend, saying that the chances of winning another race starting 4th are low.
Norris came off second best once again to his less experienced teammate, having to work a lot harder for his podium finish.
Unlike in the sprint, lady luck didn’t look down on Norris as favorably in the Grand Prix, with no safety car to gift him the win this time around.
Muscled out of the way by Verstappen heading into turn 2, Norris tumbled down the order into 6th place.
But Norris regrouped and put the hammer down, making his way right back up into the podium places.
He struggled a little more than his teammate overtaking Verstappen, with the McLaren pitwall coaching him on how to overtake the troublesome driver.
But with far and away the fastest car on the grid, it was only a matter of time before he finally got past. Norris pulled off his overtake out of turn 11.
Norris was much quicker than Piastri on his hard tires, taking huge chunks out of the Australian’s lead. Putting in fastest lap after fastest lap, Norris got the gap down to 4 and a bit seconds.
A squabble with another driver once again cost Norris a better race result, finishing oh so close despite being the fastest of the two McLarens
George Russell came home a very distant third, bouncing back after qualifying 5th for the big race.
The British driver continued his run of consistent performances this weekend in Miami, picking up some valuable points in the championship.
But there isn’t much he can do against the all-conquering papaya duo at this stage of the season.
The best he can hope for is taking 3rd from Verstappen in the standings, something that may, or may not, bite him on the bum later on.
