Thirteenth, but with the fastest lap of the race, doesn't begin to tell the story of Oscar Piastri's Miami Grand Prix.

A strong start followed by a great move on Carlos Sainz in the aftermath of the Sergio Perez incident in Turn 1, saw Piastri settle in behind Charles Leclerc in third as they pursued race leader Max Verstappen.

Just a couple of laps later the Australian youngster nailed the second Ferrari to claim second, a podium finish surely on the cards.

However, the timing of the Safety Car and the subsequent over enthusiasm of Sainz saw Piastri drop to last, the Australian valiantly fighting back to finish 13th.

"Definitely a lot of positives to come from today," he insisted. "For both of us, the car was really strong. For Lando, to win the race on pace and to pull away from Max after the Safety Car, I think that's a very, very encouraging sign.

"So very happy for him and for the whole team. I think we deserve it," added the Australian. "Our trajectory in the last 12 months has been towards this moment.

"Even with the car that I had, I think we were very strong as well," he said. "I'm excited for Imola."

Asked about his great start, he said: I was happy with the start. The fact that I could get past Leclerc as well was unexpected coming into the race. From that point, I was quite happy and was reasonably comfortable with him behind me there, just timing of the Safety Car wasn't ideal."

And the Sainz incident...

"I need to see," he said. "I mean, we weren't particularly close to the apex, but I need to see it first."

The stewards did see it, and accordingly hit the Spaniard with a time penalty that dropped him from fourth to fifth... not that it helped Piastri whose race had been wrecked by the move.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Miami here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 07/05/2024 14:49

"Piastri is really living-up to the hype & drove really well. Given he had a slightly less upgraded car than Norris his pace prior to clashing with Sainz was great & very consistent. McLaren are really "lucky" to have two top-class drivers & a car which looks like its going in the right direction.

I'm looking forward to the next Race!"

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2. Posted by kenji, 07/05/2024 0:40

"Now that the race analysis is fully in it appears that without the benefit of the safety car that Norris most likely wouldn't have won the race. I was so disappointed in Oscar's outcome when he'd been so strong and heading for a podium at the very least only to have it taken from him by an ill timed moment by Sainz! That was all the more galling given that Sainz only got a 5sec penalty and Piastre's race was ruined. That's motor racing. Despite all of this Norris drove a very good race, coupled with a serious dose of luck and a fully upgraded/specced car to take the win. Piastre is a cool kid [ in a relative sense ] and hopefully he will immediately hit back once he has a level playing ground carwise. It all augurs well for the future....."

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3. Posted by Wokingchap, 06/05/2024 14:51

"Oscar was driving so great with fantastic pace, such a shame. The upgrades must have made suxh a difference. "

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Piastri focusses on the positives

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