Oscar Piastri’s golden streak continues, with a third consecutive victory launching him ahead in the 2025 Formula 1 championship. On the same track that, a year ago, marked his rise to the top, McLaren delivers its most dominant performance of the season, with a versatile car that is easy to fine-tune but difficult to push to the limit. Equally evident are Ferrari’s issues, which now also have to contend with a Williams team increasingly proving itself a real contender.
At the Miami International Autodrome in Florida, the papaya duo puts over half a minute on the competition. The numbers from McLaren are frightening, with lap times in the first stint about one second faster than Max Verstappen’s, a gap that shrinks to “just” six or seven tenths in the final third of the race. Florida amplifies both strengths and weaknesses of the cars, on a circuit that is a well-balanced mix of straights, slow corners, and high-speed bends. The Hard Rock Stadium could only crown a complete car like the McLaren, whose operating window is so broad it is almost like a balcony with a panoramic view. The MCL39’s large operating window provides many tools to find the ideal balance—an especially valuable trait during the frenetic Sprint weekend, where having a car that is intuitive and easy to set up is essential.
The race advantage was not even due to tyre degradation management, as surface wear and rear-axle overheating were the dominant factors in Miami. The only weak spot remains qualifying, where drivers struggle to find the car’s limit due to an extremely stiff platform that filters out much of the feedback through the steering wheel. Qualifying could be a problem at Imola and Monaco, which are tracks notoriously difficult for overtaking, but that does not change the outlook of a championship fight that now risks being confined to the two papaya drivers. Once again, it is Oscar Piastri who celebrates in Florida, opportunistic and clinical in seizing his chance at the start. Lando Norris loses out in the opening duel and then spends too much time behind Max Verstappen, but as in the Sprint, he once again shows stronger pace than his teammate. The battle remains open.
George Russell returns to the podium, having used the hard tyres at the start to extend his stint and take advantage of the Virtual Safety Car for his pit stop. With the Briton at the wheel, Mercedes shows excellent performance on the medium tyres in the second stint—not at McLaren’s level, but enough to put to rest the doubts about race pace that emerged in Jeddah. The W16 proves itself consistent in every condition, and Kimi Antonelli continues to get the most out of it. Lady Luck didn’t favour him in either of the weekend’s races, but the Italian can take heart from his progress in qualifying.
Max Verstappen has to settle for fourth, after trying everything in the early stages before ultimately surrendering to McLaren’s overwhelming pace. The new floor fitted on the Dutchman’s RB21 could not work miracles, but at least in qualifying, the world champion shows he can still make a difference. The next two rounds, focused especially on Saturdays, will be a crucial opportunity to try to claw back some points, hoping in the meantime for a shift in the balance of power.
It is surprising, but not too much, that both Williams cars finish in the points, led by Alex Albon in fifth place. The Grove-based team shows how much progress can be made in a year while keeping the same chassis, for instance by finally reaching the minimum weight—but not only that. The FW47 development focused on creating usable aerodynamic load, with Alex Albon noting the car is more confidence-inspiring and predictable than last year’s.
Williams now awaits its final update package before fully shifting resources to the 2026 project. Even now, the British car is the best of the midfield, and the challenge will be to remain in the lead pack at upcoming rounds. The long-term goal remains a return to the front of the grid after starting from the back—aiming to follow in McLaren’s footsteps.
In the race, Ferrari recovers a few positions after a disastrous performance in the qualifying session, but the result still falls far short of early-season expectations. Once again, tyre management and the ability to extend the first stint prove to be strengths of the SF-25, allowing it to capitalize on the Virtual Safety Car to gain positions over Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz. The end of the race features a back-and-forth of radio messages between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, a nervousness that reflects frustration with a car whose shortcomings go well beyond just slow corners, which are already problematic in the middle sector.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur reiterates the need to work on unlocking the SF-25’s latent potential, though the drivers describe it as being on the limit and simply lacking pace. The Frenchman’s comments should be understood in the context of a Team Principal choosing words with the team’s morale in mind rather than public perception. Perhaps, however, Ferrari’s problem lies precisely in its difficulty in extracting that potential.
The SF-25 car has such a narrow operating window that it is almost invisible, to borrow Lewis Hamilton’s words, in stark contrast to a McLaren that is always dialled in under any condition. In Miami, the limitations are fully exposed, on a technical and demanding track that requires a car both reactive and stable, balanced for both high- and low-speed sections. The only consolation for Ferrari fans is that the upcoming races will be less challenging, though notable results remain unlikely. Ferrari’s priority must be understanding why the car has regressed since last season, the only way to break a cycle in which the Maranello team keeps falling short just when it seems ready to return to the top.
— see video above —
May 5, 2025
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