F1 2025 Miami GP winners and losers: Verdict from paddock insider

McLaren delivered a dominant showing in an action-packed Miami Grand Prix as their rivals faltered.

Here are our biggest winners and losers from the first of three F1 races in the United States this season…

Winner - Oscar Piastri

Oscar Piastri made it three victories in a row - and four wins from the opening six rounds - with another controlled and clinical drive to further strengthen his position as world championship leader.

Piastri bounced back from what represented his worst qualifying result of the season (P4) to immediately make up ground as he jumped ahead of teammate Lando Norris at the start, before passing both Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and polesitter Max Verstappen to take a lead he would never relinquish.

Piastri continues to demonstrate that he is the superior McLaren driver and on this kind of supreme form, and given the competitiveness of his car, it is hard to see past the Australian as the 2025 title favourite.

He once again emerged on top from an intense battle with Verstappen and now holds a 16-point advantage over Norris, while he is 32 points clear of the Red Bull driver.

Loser - Ferrari

The shenanigans over the team radio airwaves at Ferrari ended up being the dominant story on Sunday but that should not overlook the fact the Scuderia endured another truly dreadful performance.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were well off the pace in both qualifying and the race and could only manage P7 and P8. Despite their lack of competitiveness across the weekend in Miami, Ferrari still made a total mess of their Sunday.

Through their own doing, Ferrari have left Miami with a double team orders controversy hanging over them and have managed to irk Hamilton in the process. The seven-time world champion engaged in a sassy radio dispute with Ferrari after becoming increasingly frustrated by his team’s handling of the race.

Not only do Ferrari have serious work to do on their car’s performance, improvements are clearly needed on the pit wall too.

Winner - George Russell

George Russell ended a difficult weekend on a hugely positive note by securing third place on the podium behind the dominant McLarens.

Up until Sunday’s race, Russell had been enduring his toughest weekend of the season so far, having been out-performed by his rookie teammate Antonelli in both sprint and regular qualifying.

A decision to be the only driver in the top 10 to start on the hard tyres paid off handsomely for Russell, who ran longer than his rivals and was able to take advantage of a well-timed Virtual Safety Car period to pit for fresh tyres and rejoin still ahead of Verstappen.

There was fortune involved but Russell was once again in the right place at the right time to capitalise and secure a result that leaves him just six points behind third-placed Verstappen in the championship.

Loser - Lando Norris

For the second third race weekend on the trot, Norris found himself in recovery mode. Norris started on the front row alongside Verstappen but lost immediate places as he dropped to sixth having felt he had been pushed off track by the Red Bull driver at Turn 1.

While Norris’s progress was swift, he squandered crucial time in his bid to get past Verstappen. By the time he had worked his way back up to second and pulled off a successful overtake on Verstappen, Piastri was nearly 10 seconds up the road.

Norris did close on Piastri, halving his deficit to four seconds, but the Briton ultimately could not close the gap sufficiently to think about a late attack for the win. This was a weekend Norris really needed to strike back against Piastri’s recent momentum, but he instead comes away from Miami even further behind.

Winner - Williams

Williams’ fantastic start to the 2025 season continued in Miami as Alex Albon led home the team’s charge to a stunning double points finish.

Albon bounced back from the disappointment of losing his P4 in the sprint race due to a penalty for a Safety Car speed infringement by coming home in a superb fifth in Sunday’s grand prix. P4 may have even been on the cards had Russell not lucked in with a cheap pitstop thanks to the timing of the VSC.

Carlos Sainz had a tougher race as he had to settle for ninth behind Leclerc and Hamilton but Williams have managed to put some daylight between themselves and Haas in the constructors’ championship on a weekend they outperformed Ferrari on merit.

Loser - Max Verstappen

After another outstanding lap to claim his third pole position of the season, things unravelled for Verstappen on race day in Miami. The reigning world champion put up a good fight against the faster McLarens but his Red Bull was ultimately no match for the orange cars.

Verstappen’s day became worse when the VSC enabled Russell to leapfrog him into P3. Having picked up a penalty in the sprint race, Verstappen has missed out on some potentially crucial points in his bid to win a fifth successive drivers’ crown - a quest which is getting ever harder.