Stella ‘surprised’ by McLaren advantage after 1-2 in Miami as he hails particular area of engineering 'excellence'

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella was all smiles after his team delivered a commanding performance, with Oscar Piastri winning the Miami Grand Prix ahead of Lando Norris.

Having already secured a 1-2 finish in Saturday's Sprint, where Norris emerged victorious, the pace shown by the papaya team in the Grand Prix had the paddock buzzing.

Piastri and Norris finished relatively close, with just 4.6 seconds separating them, but third-placed George Russell was over 33 seconds behind Norris, while Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, which started on pole, was nearly 40 seconds behind at the finish.

This gap was the most dominant performance of the season from any team, achieved after both Piastri and Norris had to fight back through the field in the early stages.

“I'm a bit surprised that the gap we had today is as significant as it was,” Stella commented after Sunday's Grand Prix. “I anticipated we might have an advantage in terms of tyre management, but I didn't expect it to result in such a large gap throughout the race.

“Tyre management in Formula 1 still seems to be somewhat of a black art. Especially in hot conditions, another characteristic that benefits our car is the cooling system.

“In hot weather, our car's relatively closed bodywork, thanks to excellent engineering in the cooling system, performs exceptionally well. In these conditions, McLaren's engineering excellence has reached a level where it can make a significant difference.”

In the early stages of the Miami Grand Prix, eventual winner Piastri had to overtake Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen to take the lead, with Verstappen putting up a fight, but Piastri eventually found a way through.

Norris had to pass even more cars to secure second place after dropping to sixth on the opening lap. His bold attempt to overtake polesitter Verstappen at the start didn't yield the desired result.

The 25-year-old admitted after the race that he "paid the price" for the move, and with hindsight, McLaren's impressive pace could have allowed him to hold back and fight from a better position later.

Stella explained: “Considering the situation [on Lap 1], it might have been better for Lando to lift and secure second position, as the car was very fast and he would have certainly passed Max like Oscar did, and later Lando was in a position to do so.

“In racing, you must always review where the opportunities lie, and in this case, Lando could have been a bit more patient.

"However, I like seeing Lando aggressive, aiming for the lead, and sometimes it's just a matter of a fraction of a second. In this situation, the stewards decided no intervention was needed, but the maneuver was quite on the edge.”

Regarding the later moves in the race, with Verstappen forcing Piastri and then Norris to try going around the outside into Turn 1, Stella admitted that Norris lost time in his battle. While Piastri made it past the Dutchman cleanly, Norris needed several attempts and even had to relinquish the position after overtaking off the track.