Oscar Piastri not expecting 37-second margin over F1 rivals in every race

Oscar Piastri doesn’t expect McLaren to dominate races to the tune of 37 seconds at every Formula 1 round this year.

Piastri led teammate Lando Norris to victory in the Miami Grand Prix a fortnight ago, with Mercedes’ George Russell finishing 37.6s down in third in the best of the non-McLarens.

This represented the biggest winning margin for a team in F1 since the 2023 Bahrain GP, when Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finished 38.6s clear of third-placed Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.

However, Piastri doesn’t believe McLaren will have such a big buffer over its rival every weekend this year, insisting the gap will fluctuate from track to track.

The Australian said MCL39’s advantage at Miami Autodrome was down to circuit characteristics as well as its ability to nurse tyres in hot conditions.

“We saw a similar thing in Melbourne in the wet conditions but Miami was a circuit we were looking forward to from pretty early on,” he said.

“I think with the hotter characteristics there, given some of the sessions we had earlier in the season, we thought that might play more to our strengths - and Sunday in Miami did prove that.

“I am not expecting that to be the case every weekend. I would love that to be the case every weekend, but in those hotter conditions and those circuit characteristics, it will be difficult for that to repeat that result consistently. We will see what we can do.”

Verstappen won last year’s Emilia Romagna GP for Red Bull, with Norris finishing a close second in the lead MCL38. Piastri was classified fourth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Asked if it would be possible for McLaren to repeat its Miami result in this weekend’s Imola race, Piastri said: “I don't know.

“We have got very soft tyres this weekend, so maybe that will help us, but it's obviously, a lot cooler than it was in Miami, so we will see.

“The track is also incredibly different, much bumpier, much higher speed in general. We will see. I expect the competition to be closer than it was in Miami.

“We saw in qualifying that the competition was on our heels and ahead of us. We still have to make sure we go at it and execute everything as well as we can because if we falter a little bit we have got plenty of competition that can beat us.”

Piastri has hit a purple patch at the start of the 2025 season, with four victories in the opening six races helping him establish a 16-point lead in the drivers’ standings.

Asked if he feels he can run away with the championship, the 24-year-old said his focus remains on winning individual races.

“We have the strengths and characteristics to keep winning races, definitely,” he commented. “We have seen at various tracks the competition has been close and I'm not expecting every weekend to look like Sunday did in Miami, but Friday and Saturday in Miami didn't look as good as the Sunday.

“There will be a lot of competition, but I feel like I'm driving well at the moment. I feel like the team is doing a really good job with helping me get the most out of myself, get the most out of the car and clearly, the car is very strong.

“We have the potential to have a really good year, but I'm not too concerned about that at the moment. I'm just trying to win more races.”