Oscar Piastri was left without points in Miami, but still draws a positive conclusion thanks to Lando Norris’ victory – Can McLaren confirm their strong form in Imola?
“I’m very happy for him and for the whole team. I think we deserve it. We have been moving towards this moment for the past twelve months,” emphasizes Oscar Piastri after McLaren team-mate Lando Norris’ victory in the Formula 1 race in Miami.
While Norris took his first ever victory in the premier class there, Piastri also led the race for a short time, but ended up with no points after contact with Carlos Sainz and an additional pit stop that he had to make as a result.
Nevertheless, positive feelings prevail for him when he looks back on Miami. “I think the car was really strong for both of us,” he says and emphasizes: “It’s a very encouraging sign that Lando won the race thanks to the pace and pulled away from Max after the safety car.”
Norris benefited from a pit stop behind the safety car, which put him in the lead. However, after Bernd Mayländer returned to the pits, he not only stayed in front, he was even able to quickly pull away from Max Verstappen in the Red Bull behind him
Piastri gets a complete update in Imola
At the finish, Norris was 7.6 seconds ahead of the world champion. According to Piastri, this showed that McLaren was not just lucky in its first victory since 2021, when Daniel Ricciardo triumphed at Monza. “Even with the car I had, I think we were very strong,” said Piastri.
Because while Norris had the complete update package for the MCL38 on the car in Miami, Piastri only drove with a few new parts. He will not get the rest of the major upgrade until Imola. However, he is now looking forward to the race in Italy all the more, he reveals
At the same time, however, Piastri also makes it clear that McLaren cannot automatically be expected to be as strong there again. The Australian emphasizes: “In these conditions and on this track [in Miami], the pace we had was unexpected.”
“We don’t quite understand why,” he admits, explaining: “We’re a bit up and down on different days. But the fact that we can win a race with our pace is a very encouraging sign for the rest of the year. “
