MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Oscar Piastri won an action-packed Formula 1 race full of wheel-to-wheel battles Sunday, extending his championship lead over fellow McLaren driver Lando Norris, who finished second.
The Miami Grand Prix secured the city’s place on the Formula 1 calendar with a contract extension through 2041, reflecting a huge bet by the sport on the growing U.S. market.
The opening sequence proved crucial for Piastri. He qualified fourth, two positions behind Norris, but got ahead of his teammate as Norris tangled with Red Bull pole-sitter Max Verstappen in the first few corners and lost positions. Norris fell to sixth place accused Verstappen of pushing him off the track.
Verstappen, the reigning four-time world champion, aggressively defended against the charging McLarens of Piastri and then Norris, but he was ultimately unable to keep them behind. Verstappen and Norris battled for second place over multiple laps and traded positions before Norris won out. Meanwhile, Piastri built up a 9-second gap out front that was important to his win.
Norris closed the gap significantly in the final stretch of the race, but he ran out of laps and finished 4.6 seconds behind Piastri.
“It was a good thing that I built that gap in the first stint,” Piastri said, adding that he was struggling later in the race.
Piastri now leads Norris by 16 points in the championship standings, having won four of the six opening races.
Mercedes driver George Russell completed the podium in third place. Verstappen finished fourth after he fell behind Russell during the pit stops.
There was drama between Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, leading to curt radio messages by Hamilton accusing Ferrari of poor teamwork when he got stuck behind his teammate while on faster tires. Leclerc finished seventh and Hamilton eighth.
F1 will race in Miami through at least 2041
The Miami Grand Prix, which held its first race in 2022, is now the longest-contracted race on the calendar, the promoters said.
F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali called Miami “one of the most important and spectacular events on our calendar.”
“Extending this agreement until 2041 is a strategic milestone of enormous importance, which strengthens our presence in America and consolidates the ever-deepening bond with our fan base there, which is constantly growing and passionate like never before,” Domenicali said in a statement.
The Miami paddock and weekend party circuit were abuzz with celebrities and VIPs, including former football players Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, Olympic medalist Lindsey Vonn, comedian Andrew Schulz, singer Jelly Roll and Lisa, the Thai singer and actor who appeared in the recent season of “The White Lotus.”
While President Donald Trump didn’t make an appearance as he did last year, his national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, attended and was photographed speaking to Verstappen after the qualifying session Saturday.
The weekend included a shortened “sprint” race Saturday, which turned chaotic amid rain and was won by Norris. One of the stars in Miami was the 18-year-old Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, who made history as the youngest-ever pole-sitter in the Saturday sprint.
Antonelli finished sixth Sunday, behind Alex Albon of Williams, who scored an impressive fifth place.
Cadillac F1 team launches
On the night before the race, the Cadillac F1 team unveiled its logo at a swanky red-carpet launch party in Miami Beach as it prepares to join the grid next year.
“This decision was made with the fans in mind and continues to push the boundaries of motorsport to the highest level. Cadillac’s entry represents a powerful fusion of American engineering excellence, heritage, and innovation and I look forward to welcoming them,” Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA, the sport’s governing body, said in a statement.
In attendance was Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 world champion, who is advising the team on driver selection and other matters.
“Seeing the Cadillac Formula 1 team come to life was an adrenaline rush, coming from my passion and love for it. It was a celebration of teamwork, dedication and resilience. A night to acknowledge the effort and perseverance of so many people,” Andretti told NBC News. “My congratulations to Cadillac and to each individual who helped navigate and offer reassurance about the future. I’m so proud to be on this team with them.”
Jerry Bruckheimer previews the ‘F1’ movie
The paddock featured a garage experience aimed at promoting the upcoming “F1” movie, starring Brad Pitt, which Warner Bros. is scheduled to release in the United States on June 27. The area included an immersive opportunity, produced by the Los Angeles-based creative agency Sturdy.co, for VIPs and attendees to listen to the movie’s album. It also offered F1 race simulators decked out in style of the fictional APXGP team for which Pitt’s character races.
“It’s romantic, it’s exciting, and it’s most authentic racing movie ever made because of the technology we were able to use,” producer Jerry Bruckheimer said in an interview in the paddock. “The story is emotional. It’s a comeback story — the kind of stuff that inspired me to go see movies and make movies.”
Pitt plays a retired F1 driver named Sonny Hayes who unexpectedly returns to racing years after a horrible crash.
Bruckheimer said Pitt trained for three months to learn to drive an F1 car. Pitt “did all his own driving,” he said. “He loves driving cars. And I think the saddest day for Brad is when he had to step out of the car and we wrapped the movie. I was more relieved than anybody else that everything was safe.”
