Formula 1’s return to Miami will bring back welcome memories for Lando Norris of his breakthrough victory at the track 12 months ago.
But team mate Oscar Piastri is leading the way at McLaren now which should force a rethink in the team’s priorities.Here are the talking points for this weekend’s round.
Piastri’s earned parity
McLaren have always made a point of treating their drivers equally on-track until they decide one was in a far stronger position to fight for the drivers’ championship. That was clearly the case last year, when many were surprised they did not instruct Piastri to let Norris win in Hungary, but later in the season the pair did exchange places in the interest of the latter’s championship ambitions.
However the team has consistently favoured one of its drivers when new parts have been available. Norris was the first to get his hands on McLaren’s extensive car upgrade at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2023, which transformed their season. The same happened again in Singapore later that season.
But 12 months on the situation is rather different. Norris may have added four more wins, but Piastri tied him on five career grand prix victories last time out. What’s more, Piastri claimed the lead in the drivers’ championship, where he leads his team mate by 10 points.
There may still be occasions where McLaren can only bring one example of its latest upgrade to a race weekend. With Piastri now leading the way, surely it should now be him and not Norris who gets first call on the latest hardware?
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Risk softs for sprint race?
For the second year in a row, Miami’s round of the world championship gets the dubious distinction of holding a sprint event. Last year the top six finished where they started.
In last year’s sprint race almost every driver opted for the medium (now the hard) while just a pair of starters in the back three rows risked the softs (this year’s medium). The strategy paid off handsomely for both Yuki Tsunoda, who rose from 15th on the grid to take the final point, and Logan Sargeant who moved up eight places to finish 10th.
Disqualifications
Not that long ago it wasn’t unusual for an entire season to pass without anyone being disqualified. But Hulkenberg’s disqualification in Bahrain was the fourth so far this year.
The other three all came at the previous sprint event in Shanghai. Avoiding disqualifications at sprint rounds is more challenging because of the reduced practice time available. But teams have the benefit of more experience with their latest cars after five rounds this year and should be better-placed to avoid and nasty post-race surprises.
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DRS dodges
Several drivers have been accused of using these tactics – notably Nico Hulkenberg last year (by his team mate Kevin Magnussen, no less) and Fernando Alonso in the inaugural race. Teams have become more cunning in how they use DRS to frustrate their rivals, such as Williams’ approach at the last race. Unless the configuration of Miami’s DRS zones is changed for this weekend’s race we could see similar tactics again.
US representation diminishing…
F1 returns to Miami without Florida’s local driver, Logan Sargeant, who lost his Williams seat after last year’s race. The championship is once more without a driver from the market in which it most wants to make an impact.
But what of Sargeant’s future? An IndyCar test last year led nowhere, though most of the top seats for 2025 were already taken. He was set to race in the European Le Mans Series but withdrew in February this year. The IDEC team he signed for said at the time he was “stepping away from the sport to pursue other interests.”
Remarkably, this is the second consecutive driver who has seemingly turned their back on the sport after losing their seat at Williams. Nicholas Latifi, who lost his seat to Sargeant at the end of 2022, left motor racing to pursue a business career.
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…and growing
Last week the FIA confirmed more details of Cadillac’s pending arrival, including plans to run their own power unit from 2029. Does the team have any announcements of its own to tie in with the coming weekend – such as the first of its drivers?
Miami specials
At the time of writing Ferrari, Mercedes and Sauber have teased special liveries for this weekend’s race. Will they all materialise – and do the others have similar plans? And is this in aid of anything besides flogging more one-off merchandise?
Are you going to the Miami Grand Prix?
If you’re heading to USA for this weekend’s race, we want to hear from you:
Who do you think will be the team to beat in the Miami Grand Prix? Have your say below.
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2025 Miami Grand Prix
- Nothing for Ferrari to learn from Miami team orders episode – Vasseur
- Hamilton proud of Ferrari as ‘we’re taking a beating from media and people’s comments’
- McLaren legality never in doubt says Piastri as FIA’s post-race check clears car
- Albon did not disobey team orders in Miami says Vowles after Sainz’s complaint
- McLaren score their most emphatic win since Hamilton’s 2008 Silverstone triumph
Red Andy (@red-andy)
29th April 2025, 8:19
The choice of softer tyre compounds seems baffling, in the context of a sprint weekend. Sprints are already tyre preservation sessions for the most part – no team is going to want to make a pit stop, without a rain shower or other extreme circumstance – so why introduce tyres that will even further incentivise a conservative approach?
The concept of sprint races has departed so far from its original intention, of seeing the drivers push flat-out in race conditions, that it really should force a rethink.
S
29th April 2025, 8:34
F1 drivers will never push flat out for more than one lap, no matter which type of session it is.
That was never the concept that sprints were based on – sprints are simply a short race in place of a boring, non-competitive practice session, in order to boost Friday and Saturday attendance and viewing figures.
More jeopardy, in theory – though the teams predictably destroyed that idea straight away.
It would be nice to think that one or two teams might realise how far off maximum pace they’ll actually be running in the sprint and consider that it may actually be substantially faster with a mid-race pit stop.
Alas, the teams are simply too simulation-reliant and risk-averse to do anything like that – especially given the limited number of tyres available these days.
If only there were points available for everyone to encourage such a strategic gamble…
Coventry Climax
29th April 2025, 10:02
If only we’d give a hundred dollar to everyone trying to use “substances”..
Sure, there’s ways to patch up something that was a bad idea in the first place, but it remains a bad idea no matter what.
By nature, practice is non-competitive, so using that as a denigrating adjective says more about you than it does about practice. Practice serves a purpose; if you doubt that I suggest you think of what any other sports would be like without it.
Noone forced anyone to watch practice. In fact, it was never even intended as such – see above. It provided an opportunity for diehard fans to watch their idols, both cars and drivers, from up close and under different circumstances. It was brought to broadcasting as a courtesy to a wider group of fans initially.
So, translating what you say into clearspeak:
‘sprints were started to generate more money’.
Not that they actually lacked that though, so ‘even more money’ is quite as correct.
That means all of the other aspects of and reasons for practice sessions were sacrificed for money only.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Coventry Climax
29th April 2025, 10:14
In case you did not yet grasp it:
Handing out points in sprints is -in a way- does force people to watch them, as that makes them part of the championship. And more points means more forcing.
Craig
29th April 2025, 12:31
The debate is whether it actually did make any money or not. If it did surely they’d be singing from the heavens about it and be trying to force the format upon more circuits, but something tells me it’s not and it’s only still there out of the stubborn pride of whoever forced it upon F1 in the first place.
S
29th April 2025, 11:54
Not as a courtesy, but as a way to increase income. Supply and demand, for profit.
Not quite all – but ultimately F1 exists primarily to make increasing profits for all involved, and so everything they do has that end-goal in mind.
As for the points – nobody is forced to watch anything. You can watch only the sessions you like, just take note that the points table will look a little different if you chose to skip something. Not the end of the world – the overall championship should always be a secondary concern to the quality of individual events, anyway.
Having a points system that easily and accurately reflects results for all competitors, however, makes perfect sense.
Jere (@jerejj)
29th April 2025, 14:09
S Of course, practice sessions have been broadcasted ever since at least the early-1990s, but I’d never thought about the intention of starting to broadcast them back in the day nor did I ever even think about any particular factor being behind the move.
Coventry Climax
29th April 2025, 18:20
..
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
29th April 2025, 18:21
Great comment. The concept is of a sprint is good, the teams like they have the main event remove as much jeopardy as they can. The driver would be long gone if it was down to them and if you listen to the coaching old hands like Lewis get, they almost have. I think i watch on muscle memory and vain hope
Steff (@otech)
29th April 2025, 8:29
I think it’s too soon to play favourites long term, and just give them to whoever is leading the championship at the time they arrive. This would likely correlate with last year as well. If its not about whoever is leading, then they should flip a coin and alternate at each upgrade from there.
Norris may be back in front for the next upgrade, so why commit to a preference on a 10 point difference 5 races in.
Coventry Climax
29th April 2025, 10:08
I clearly remember making a comment end of season last year, stating something in the line of Norris had priority this year, but Piastri may very well go for his own chances next year, and rightly so, given he makes far less mistakes, which will put Norris in a harder position.
If I can think of that, surely the 100+ intelligent people at McLaren must have had the time to play with similar thoughts as well, right?
Now define your words ‘too soon’ please.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
29th April 2025, 18:24
its too early in the season especially as they have such an advantage. Last season it was one of them v Max, they compromised their fight to Max by not prioritising. There you go, ‘too soon’ defined
Jere (@jerejj)
29th April 2025, 8:51
Piastri’s earned parity – Piastri should indeed be prioritized for consistency’s sake despite the championship situation being wide open for the time being as the same was equally true twelve months ago.
Risk softs for sprint race? – We’ll see, but ultimately I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone resorted to the safe game of using the C5 in the sprint.
Disqualifications – I also doubt this matter would become a particular issue.
DRS dodges – Some drivers indeed have cut the chicane for that purpose, for example, Mick is another driver as he did so in the 2023 race, iirc. However, I doubt the activation zone starting point has anything to do with such tactics, & based on how Rui Marques has acted so far this season, I’m relatively positive the starting point for both the back straight & the south section activation zone starting points will at the very least remain unchanged from the last two seasons, although given how strong the DRS train effect has always been in Miami, I hope he does the same as in Shanghai, i.e., bring these two zones’ respective starting points forward by 75 meters to counteract the ever-worsening following within stable aero cycle, which would also mean a return to the original starting point for both zones.
US representation diminishing… – Sargeant (& Latifi) indeed stopped active racing altogether, but regarding US driver presence among the 20 full-time drivers, perhaps next season will feature one, although far from a foregone conclusion at the current rate, considering the relevant US drivers’ super license situations.
…and growing – Indeed & while Cadillac could theoretically make a driver announcement during the Miami GP weekend, I reckon the European leg is more plausible for this to happen based on Mario Andretti’s mid-year reference at one point last year regarding driver decision timeline.
Miami specials – Probably just some marginal coloring tweaks here & there rather than anything major.
SteveP
29th April 2025, 10:05
American. If you discount the Italian PU and the Italian designed and manufactured chassis, and the brakes, and…
Still, circa 2029/30 Cadillac can say “the only all-American team on the grid”
Coventry Climax
29th April 2025, 10:33
Ha, yeah.
Although for Cadillac to be able to say that, they should be allowed to run american made tyres as well. And not make use of any ‘european based data’ to develop their cars. That essentially means they’d come up initially with an Indy type of car and then take it from there. Surely they wouldn’t have to wait until ’29 for that? ;-)
Richard
30th April 2025, 13:58
Here let me use an even more ridiculous straw man fallacy, if one person at Ferrari who worked on the design of the car isn’t born in Italy or has 2 Italian parents can even Ferrari be called Italian?
It’s not about where the parts come from or who designed them it’s about who writes the check.
SteveP
30th April 2025, 22:21
Ah, so, the final nail in the coffin of so-called British bias – there are no British teams.
Coventry Climax
29th April 2025, 10:19
Ofcourse they should give priority to Piastri.
Norris has proved all of last season he makes way too many mistakes, and isn’t generally all that faster. Then he continued on that line into this season.
I’ll be disappointed in McLaren if they prove to be thickheads and haven’t figured it out by now.
And it might even take pressure away from Norris, so he can focus better on what’s important in the first place: Getting good results without making mistakes.
SteveP
29th April 2025, 12:35
I think the errors you see are in fact Norris pushing the limits.
Sadly, not of the car, though.
Coventry Climax
29th April 2025, 16:16
Thumbs-up emoticon.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
29th April 2025, 18:27
Very ‘charming’, and very wrong. Piastri lost 8 places was it by binning it 1st race. They will both make more mistakes, luckily Mclaren are not the thickheads
Stephen Taylor
29th April 2025, 10:59
In case Keith had noticed Piastri was given a chance a floor upgrade in practice in Jeddah. McLaren have said they won’t split on specs cars unless the performance gain from an upgrade is such a benefit that they cannot afford not to run it . I think just automatically giving Piastri priority on upgrades fro the rest of the season is a bit of nonsense and would only dent Norris’s confidence and may create an air of bitterness and toxicity . Sure give him the priority for this race as he’s leading the WDC but that doesn’t neccessarily. If Oscar is to beat Lando to the the title at least let occur as naturally and fairly as possible until one is clearly in a more favourable position to win it . At least give Norris another 3 or 4 rounds to prove himself a championship contender this year . With only 10 points between them at this stage it’s too early to ask either driver to play rear gunner.
Edvaldo
29th April 2025, 16:12
Norris got priority for no reason other than seniority in the past. Now not only is Piastri leading the championship, he has shown the capacity to win a large number of races, something Norris has yet to do.
These 5 races are a reason good enough to consider Norris’s days as team leader as gone. It’s over. He should be thankful that Piastri lost those points in Australia because had that not happened, he would be even further behind in just 5 races.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
29th April 2025, 18:28
Whats your problem with Lando? SOunds more personal than rational. I’ll love it when he makes his detractors eat their words
Edvaldo
30th April 2025, 0:09
What personal reason would i have against a F1 driver?
I’m telling it as it is. Norris is extremely error-prone if you look it up you’ll see i praised his performance in Australia, it looked like a different Norris from last year, but that vanished already, he’s back to insecure, whiny mode, able to win a race every now and then but hardly to dominate.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
30th April 2025, 9:03
There you go again. Maybe its a language thing but it comes across very personal other than that only you know why
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
30th April 2025, 11:02
Well, it heavily depends on the race, he also had a good race in abu dhabi for example, with a lot of pressure because if one ferrari got past him mclaren would lose the constructor’s championship, he was in a 1 vs 2 situation, but yes, overall too frequent mistake for a driver aiming for the title, you can only win occasional races if you’re fast but make so many mistakes.
Edvaldo
30th April 2025, 13:35
The pressure was for him to make a clean start. Which he did, then he won the race because McLaren was faster.
That’s all it takes when you got the speed and the car, yet he has been able to find many different ways into defeat since being given the fastest car.
MichaelN
29th April 2025, 19:22
Piastri has hardly won a ‘large number’ of races, and he did make that mistake in Australia, and he did lose points elsewhere too.
It’s a good match. Isn’t that good for us viewers? Why the need to declare the contest over? Norris’ problem is his errors, not his pace. His pace still seems slightly better than Piastri’s. We’ll see how the rest of the season shakes out.
Edvaldo
30th April 2025, 0:06
I didn’t say he won a large number. I said he has shown the capacity to win a large number, as he already won 3 out of 5.
Norris won 5 ouf of 20, since he has had the best car.
See the difference?
MichaelN
30th April 2025, 0:47
Not sure where the 20 races is coming from. The last 15 of last year? Either way, Piastri had the same car Norris had, and both have won five races over the past two seasons.
It’s great that Piastri has done well this year, but it’s a small gap in points, and Norris’ pace is still arguably better. That’s not enough, as he’s finding out, but it’s way too early to write anyone off; especially with the car being so good, both will likely win quite a few more races. And just a single McLaren 1-2 with Norris winning and they’re already basically tied on points again.
Edvaldo
30th April 2025, 1:53
Would it be better if i said he won 1 out of 5 this year, then?
Piastri won 3 out of 5 this year. Try to do that with Norris. It never happened. He can pick up podiums with the fastest car, but still has to prove he can arrive at a track as the favourite to win and do it.
That’s what i said.
Norris can be fast and will win races, but i’m not crazy to say Piastri isn’t looking better than him this year and much more mature albeit being younger.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
29th April 2025, 21:52
Oscar is the safe, solid bet.
But Lando is Mr Entertainment.
McLaren have two very fine drivers indeed.
Alonslow
29th April 2025, 22:14
I understand there are some Lando fans around the site, but apart from Australia and Japan, Oscar has been the better driver, his only real error of the season was in Melbourne.
In Japan his ‘mistake’ was qualifying 3rd, no one could overtake on that race so he finished behind Norris, apart from that he has been close to perfect, winning all other races, and being on the podium in every race including Sprints, his qualy pace still being a bit slower compared to Lando is his weakness because on the track he has been more than a match for Lando unlike 2024 when Oscar was missing race pace sometimes.
So Oscar should get the upgrades if there are only enough for 1 car, he’s leading the championship and comes from 2 wins in a row, maybe Mclaren will not bring only 1 upgrade to keep the battle fair but I don’t see a situation in which Lando gets upgrades but Oscar doesn’t.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
30th April 2025, 1:22
I’m pretty sure the Oscar/Lando discussion will be all moot. I’d think it highly unlikely that McLaren won’t bring the same upgrades for both cars, albeit they might only set one up for P1 to evaluate the upgrade before doing both cars for qualy and races.