Oscar Piastri crossed the finish line in P3 at the F1 2026 Miami GP, completing a double podium for McLaren alongside teammate Lando Norris, who finished second.
The Australian, last year’s Miami winner, started Sunday’s race from P7 after a difficult qualifying session. However, first-lap chaos allowed him to climb to P4 almost immediately.
Throughout the race, Piastri fought George Russell and Charles Leclerc in a series of “yo-yo” battles as strategy, tyre life and battery deployment shaped the order. Despite a slow pit stop, he managed to stay ahead of Russell and keep himself in podium contention.
Then, on the penultimate lap, the race delivered a dramatic final twist. Piastri finally passed Leclerc and held on to claim the final step of the podium.
Piastri discusses his performance throughout the F1 2026 Miami GP weekend
During the track interviews conducted by Jenson Button, Piastri reflected on a demanding weekend.
“Yeah, definitely. It’s not been the most straightforward of weekends,” he said.
While he scored two podiums, finishing P2 in the Sprint Race and P3 in the main race, the Australian driver qualified P3 in the Sprint Qualifying and P7 in Grand Prix Qualifying.
“I think Qualifying yesterday was a bit messy for both of us, but the pace seemed more encouraging again today. And yeah, had to make a few overtakes. Obviously, the end of the race was a pretty late charge, but yeah, just very tricky around here, especially in these conditions.”
“So, thanks to the team. Clearly, we were a step closer in performance once again, so yeah, it’s nice to see it.”
On Norris’ good performance and McLaren’s improvements, Piastri reflected: “Yeah, definitely. I think this weekend we showed that if we get track position, we can hang on to things well. We were close in Japan, but we’ve definitely taken a step forward and hopefully in Canada we can take another step forward again. Yeah, excited for the future.”
Piastri: “I think I did a good job today”
At the podium finishers’ press conference, Piastri discussed his 28th career podium and admitted the result looked unlikely for much of the race.
“I think in terms of the result, very happy,” he summed up. “Obviously, for a long part of that race, it definitely wasn’t looking like a podium, so to end up in third is a really good result.”
Piastri also praised McLaren’s work with its Miami upgrades, noting that the team made immediate use of the new package across the weekend.
“And as Lando said, the team has done a great job with the upgrades this weekend. I think we did a great job as well in hitting the ground running on Friday and then maximising things.”
He then explained that Qualifying had made McLaren’s true pace harder to read. Although the team knew it had left performance on the table, race pace offered a much clearer sign of progress.
And I think Qualifying was a little bit harder to read. I think our impression after Qualifying was that the others had just kind of maximised what they had a lot more, but we knew we had a little bit to find again after Qualifying. But I think the pace we had today as a team was really strong, so that was really encouraging.”
“Obviously, for myself, I think the whole weekend I’ve been just that tenth or two off most of the time, which has made life a little bit trickier than it should have been at points. “But yeah, I think in terms of being able to maximise the result after qualifying, I think I did a good job today,” he concluded.
Piastri collected 15 points in the Grand Prix and seven in the Sprint. Despite a rocky start to the season, including two DNS results in the first two races, he leaves Miami sixth in the Drivers’ Championship. With 43 points, he sits just behind Hamilton, who has 49.
Piastri expands on the first lap at the F1 2026 Miami GP
When asked about the opening lap, where he emerged in P4, Piastri said his start helped him make immediate progress.
“Yeah, got a great start. “Obviously, yeah, Turn 2 was pretty interesting once again. So yeah, I was obviously just trying to pick which way to go there.”
“And yeah, I think our starts as a team have always been strong, and I think today was another good one. And then after that, the pace was strong. The first stint before the Safety Car, I made a few mistakes and just wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. But I think the second half of the race felt much more comfortable,” Piastri explained.
Overall, the Australian felt encouraged by the way he chased Russell and Leclerc before securing the podium late on.
“I think the pace was just a lot better as well and was able to chase down George and obviously Charles at the end as well. So very happy about that.”
