F1 2025 Miami Grand Prix Review (Undercutters Ep19 transcript)
Hello, everyone. This is the 19th Undercutters podcast, reviewing the race weekend of the Miami Grand Prix. I’m Morris, your host. If you want to get in touch you can find me on Blue Sky or Twitter as MorrisF1.
To get this out of the way, I did say in the preview I wasn’t fond of this track and then it gave us an entertaining sprint and a pretty good race. This year the lauded Suzuka circuit was very poor and the derided Miami gave us two good events, which does show just how hard F1 can be to predict. Still, it’s nice to have a pleasant surprise.
Miami Sprint 00m50s
Antonelli had done very well to get himself pole in the sprint but right behind him were the three men vying for the title. He also wasn’t helped by the fact it chucked it down right before the sprint was due to start, which led Leclerc to crash on his way to the grid.
In the end, the cars did two formation laps behind the safety car then pulled into the pits to wait for things to dry up. This also meant Tsunoda, due for a pit lane start, was able to start on the grid when the cars finally got there after another couple of laps behind the safety car. These extra formation laps ate into the sprint’s 18 laps, reduced from 19, but the track did look drier if still soggy enough for intermediate tyres.
Off the line Piastri had the better start and got the inside of the first corner. Antonelli fought it but had to go off, losing out to Piastri and also Norris and Verstappen. Further down, Lawson rose from 14th to 9th and Alonso got himself into 8th from 10th.
The main battle on-track was Ocon in 12th defending against Sainz in 13th. Good, close battle, with Sainz occasionally able to get ahead only for Ocon to re-take the place.
The track was drying rapidly enough that on lap 11 Tsunoda dove into the pits for dry tyres. The next lap saw Hamilton, Sainz, and Stroll do likewise.
Lap 12 also saw Norris, who had been closing the 3s gap to Piastri, get it to within the DRS zone, but the Aussie was able to keep him behind. Ironically, this would end up helping Norris a lot.
There was a very unsafe release on lap 13 for Verstappen, who crashed into Antonelli. This damaged the Red Bull’s front wing, stopped Antonelli changing his tyres (he did well to avoid hitting any mechanics given the shunt) and got the Dutchman a 10s penalty. Not his fault, of course, but he was badly let down by his Red Bull pit crew.
Piastri pitted the next lap, which also saw double waved yellows for Sainz who hit the wall, ruined his rear left tyre, and trundled back to the pits to retire. On-track, Hamilton was really rather fast and got past Verstappen easily.
Lap 15 saw Norris enjoy great luck in Miami for the second year running. His failure to pass Piastri and their proximity on-track meant he had to wait another lap for his pit stop. And Norris got a safety car for his, slowing the racing down and enabling him to emerge in 1st ahead of Piastri.
The safety car was brought about by Alonso’s terrible 2025 bad luck, as he got spun around by Lawson and put into a wall. Once again, the Spaniard would’ve scored had this not happened. Aston Martin fans must hope 2026 sees him enjoy a streak of good luck to balance the bad of this year..
The sprint finished under the safety car, which meant Verstappen’s 10s penalty put him out of the points entirely. There were also penalties for Bearman, 5s for an unsafe release, and Lawson, 5s for causing a collision. Albon got a 5s penalty for not staying within the safety car minimum time, which cost him 4th.
When this was all shaken out, Norris got the win ahead of Piastri. Hamilton finished up 3rd, with Russell in 4th. Stroll in 5th and Tsunoda in 6th are a pair that will be glad to be on the scoreboard again, with Antonelli recovering to 7th and Gasly getting the last point for 8th. While Antonelli will be disappointed his sprint result was down to an error in judgement fighting for the first corner when he should’ve let it go, and terrible luck in the pit lane. And, as Alonso has proven multiple times this year, no driver has a defence against misfortune.
Hulkenberg ended up 9th, which must be slightly galling for him and Sauber given how tough the team’s going to find scoring.
Miami Grand Prix Qualifying 5m06s
For qualifying all of Leclerc, Alonso, and Sainz had their cars fully repaired. It was also nice and dry.
In Q1 Hulkenberg was the fastest man eliminated, ahead of Alonso, Gasly, Stroll, and Bearman. Things were highly competitive, Hulkenberg was jus two-hundredths off Ocon in this session, yet the Frenchman would end up doing very well. The Q1 eliminations also indicate the Aston Martin is not a happy car in Miami, emphasising how well Alonso did in the sprint qualifying.
Q2 saw Hadjar, Hamilton, Bortoleto, Doohan, and Lawson out. Lawson complained on the radio of his battery, suggesting he was down on power. Again, it was very close with Hadjar within four-hundredths of Leclerc, Ocon, and Tsunoda, all of whom reached Q3. For Ocon in particular it was a good achievement to get into the final session.
In the final part of qualifying it was looking like a McLaren versus Verstappen battle, with the possibility of Mercedes interrupting. In the end, Verstappen seized pole yet again, half a tenth ahead of Norris.
Antonelli continued to outpace his team mate, and started 3rd ahead of Piastri. The Aussie had his biggest deficit to pole all year and should’ve been closer. More good stuff from Antonelli, and the second row of the race is identical to the sprint’s front row.
Russell had to settle for 5th, and was joined by Sainz, who has had the edge on Albon all weekend. Albon and Leclerc were row four, the Ferrari looking distinctly iffy. Ocon and Tsunoda completed the top 10.
Miami Grand Prix Race Review 7m05s
Before the race started there was a forecast of rain, perhaps heavy, to arrive during it. The start itself was dry, with Gasly starting from the pit lane having modified his suspension.
Most drivers started on the medium tyre with Russell, Hamilton, Lawson, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Bearman and Gasly on the hard tyres. In the dry, it was expected to be a one-stop race.
Off the line Norris started very well and was battling with Verstappen when the Red Bull locked up, Norris got out of shape (he felt he was pushed off-track by Verstappen) and went wide, and this allowed Antonelli and Piastri through, sending Norris tumbling back into 6th. A bit like Antonelli in the sprint, an error of judgement by the McLaren here.
By the 2nd lap we had a virtual safety car thanks to Lawson and Doohan tangling, which forced Doohan to stop. Lap 4 saw the VSC end, and Piastri immediately pounced on Antonelli for 2nd. At the same time, Norris passed Albon for 5th. A little DRS train of Antonelli, Russell, and Norris then formed but Norris continued to make progress, passing Russell on lap 7 and Antonelli on lap 9, putting the McLaren into 3rd.
At the front, Piastri was in DRS range of Verstappen and clearly faster, but the Red Bull was defending well. This was enabling Norris to narrow the gap and get very close to the top two. On lap 14 Piastri finally passed Verstappen, and Norris was in DRS range of the Red Bull. Piastri streaked away while Norris tried to get past the slower car but, like Piastri before him, he found it less than easy. This was fantastic for Piastri, who, over the next few laps, built up a lead of around 9s over Verstappen and Norris.
After a failed attempt off-track on lap 17 which led to Norris giving the place back the British driver passed the Dutchman on lap 18 and set off after his team mate.
Lap 20 saw Bortoleto pit, and, by dribs and drabs, the various teams called in their drivers. In the midfield, Hamilton was battling hard on lap 22 to get past Ocon, but the Haas driver was defending nicely and the two had a very good tussle, with Hamilton getting ahead on the next lap.
At the front, Verstappen was falling back dramatically from the McLaren pair, losing around a second a lap. Piastri’s lead remained a fairly steady eight and a half seconds.
Lap 29 saw a second virtual safety car emerge after Bearman had to stop on-track. This also saw the McLarens pit, as well as Russell and Leclerc. The cheap stop was perfect for Russell and enabled him to leapfrog Verstappen for 3rd. On lap 31, Albon passed Antonelli while Sainz passed Leclerc for 7th (the Ferrari was only ahead due to a cheap stop under the VSC).
On lap 32 Bortoleto was told to box and retire but his Sauber decided to skip the first step and yet another virtual safety car was the result. On the restart, Leclerc and Hamilton both mugged Sainz, which is a shame for the Williams driver but the Ferraris were clearly sharper when racing resumed.
This put Leclerc into 7th, Hamilton in 8th, and Sainz down to 9th. Around lap 37 Norris was steadily eroding Piastri’s lead, but it looked doubtful he’d be able to get close enough in the remaining laps.
Hamilton’s radio was quite entertaining, as he got acquainted with Ferrari’s faffing about. He was on the medium tyre, having started on the hard, and really quick. So he wanted to be let by Leclerc. After laps of thinking Ferrari finally agreed by which time the Briton’s tyres were cooked. Towards the end of the race they asked him to let Leclerc through, which he did. However, Ferrari told Leclerc he would be let past before they told Hamilton, delaying that as well. When told the gap to Sainz was 1.4s Hamilton asked if they wanted him to let Sainz pass him as well.
As Norris was closing on Piastri, Russell was over a pit stop behind. Verstappen was a second and a half to two seconds off but was never able to get in DRS range of Russell.
In the end, Piastri took the win, 4.6s ahead of Norris. Another assured performance by the Aussie, but Norris must be wondering about Verstappen. The Dutchman’s lockup cost Norris, and then the laps of defending by the Red Bull allowed Piastri to scamper off. Norris drove well but the end result is he’s lost more ground to Piastri in the title battle.
Behind them was Russell, who benefited nicely from the virtual safety car and had a decent but not dramatic race. Verstappen’s 4th is not a terrible result, he sounded pretty unhappy with his car throughout. Outpaced by McLaren and unlucky to drop behind Russell, these are still solid points.
Albon was pretty much by himself in 5th, neither threatening Verstappen nor threatened by Antonelli. Finishing where he did on merit is pretty great for Williams, though. They looked faster than Ferrari. Antonelli’s 6th is a little disappointing given where he started, but before he pitted he was ahead of both Russell and Albon. He lost out to his team mate due to the VSC stop for Russell and got passed on-track by Albon.
Ferrari in 7th and 8th is more or less where they deserved to be on pace, which is a bit sad to say. Sainz could’ve been ahead of them too, and ended up 9th, despite his best efforts with a clumsy lunge against Hamilton on the final lap. I did mention pre-season that changing a suspension setup was what McLaren did just over a decade ago, for a single season before a regulation change, and that led to their decline for years. Hopefully Ferrari will bounce back sooner than that.
Tsunoda was given a 5s penalty for speeding in the pit lane but was just about able to hold onto 10th, barely ahead of Hadjar after the penalty was applied. He was about 35s behind Verstappen, which is not great. But he did score, and battled well for the last point.
Bad luck for Hadjar, who never really appeared in the TV coverage but was pushing at the end to try and get within 5s.
Major Moments at the Miami GP 14m19s
The sprint was pretty entertaining thanks to the weather. It also saw yet another entry in the Saga of Alonso’s Terrible Luck. Once again, he was on the verge of scoring when bad luck struck him in the form of Liam Lawson. The Spaniard should’ve scored on three or four occasions this year and every time misfortune sends him a DNF.
The sprint also saw a 10s penalty for Verstappen due to an unsafe pit release. This had the effect of putting him last because of the safety car finish. While this is bad luck for Verstappen, it was the most clear cut unsafe release I’ve seen for a long time, and even prevented Antonelli pitting. It was fortunate that Antonelli was able to stop his car hitting any of the mechanics. I imagine whichever Red Bull employee made the call to release will have had a bit of a talking to after the sprint because it was dangerous, as well as costing Verstappen points.
I ragged on the track but weather did make the sprint eventful. The race was dry but the first half was exciting, although things calmed down at the sharp end after that.
Was the lap 1 incident between Verstappen and Norris worthy of a penalty? Norris felt he was pushed off, and while he recovered to finish 2nd it’s likely he would’ve won but for that. It’s pretty contentious, and people have differing views. My own take is that Verstappen had the inside line at that particular corner, and while it was very robust defending it was ok. It reminded me slightly of Piastri against Antonelli, where the Aussie also had the inside line. At the corner, Verstappen and Norris were essentially side-by-side with Verstappen on the inside. I can see why many people take the view it should’ve been a penalty, but for me it didn’t deserve one.
Despite that, Verstappen has not had much luck at the Miami Grand Prix. Last year the safety car was splendid for Norris in helping him achieve a first ever win, and this time out the virtual safety car put Russell ahead of Verstappen. The Dutchman drove well but his car was no match for the McLarens. Once they got ahead both Piastri and Norris pulled out a large gap, with Russell ending up 33s behind Norris. Given we had three virtual safety car periods, and Norris passed Verstappen on lap 18 of 57, that’s pretty much a second a lap.
While McLaren were clearly top dog this weekend, their main advantages are having two top drivers and that they’re fast everywhere. Even a relatively weaker circuit for them has them in the mix. When the Red Bull or someone else is off the pace then they get left behind by the papaya car. We’re only a quarter of the way into the 2025 F1 season but it’s very hard to see anyone else winning the Constructors’ this year.
It took Norris about four laps to get past Verstappen, and he was in DRS right after Piastri passed the Dutchman. To be fair, it had taken the Aussie quite a few laps to get past, which I think some people forget, and Verstappen was defending well. But Norris had pace and that time spent bottled up was what made the victory for Piastri. Norris was closing in on his team mate but finished four and a half seconds adrift. If he’d passed Verstappen within a lap or two he might well have won the race.
There were some fun on-track battles, Verstappen against first Piastri then Norris, and Hamilton fighting to get past Ocon. The Haas ended up 12th, this was clearly not a circuit that suited their car tremendously but the Frenchman was driving pretty well.
Williams had a very strong result, Albon in 5th and Sainz in 9th. The Spaniard could’ve been ahead of both Ferraris but his virtual safety car restart let him down.
Ferrari were not quick, and their strategy was not sharp. But Hamilton was, and his radio messages, a mix of giving the team a kick up the backside and being acidly sarcastic, was a highlight of the race. And he’s right to do it, mocking the team for having a tea break when they should’ve immediately let him past Leclerc while his tyres were good instead of prevaricating for three laps. This year, Ferrari are not in with a title chance. But that won’t always be the case, and delaying a decision for laps that let Hamilton’s medium tyres lose their pace advantage and overheat in Leclerc’s dirty air was not smart. In a tight title battle, that kind of messing about can be the difference between glory and failure.
The Aston Martins were atrocious, finishing last on-track in 15th and 16th. Hulkenberg beat them both, even with Alonso having a cheap virtual safety car pit stop. For both teams in green, 2026 cannot come soon enough.
Miami Grand Prix Predictions Assessment 19m35s
The Miami Grand Prix was a lot more fun than I anticipated and that wasn’t the only prediction I got wrong. In fact, I managed to only get a single prediction correct, which is probably my worst performance this season.
Piastri could’ve won the sprint as I predicted, but he didn’t, and Norris meant that forecast was red. I did get Verstappen’s pole position correct but that’s the only silver lining this time. I had Verstappen winning and he was 4th, Piastri in 2nd and he won, and Norris 3rd and he got 2nd place.
My midfield points, which I’m usually fairly good at, were abysmal. Bearman didn’t even finish and Gasly was never threatening to score. And, finally, I thought Leclerc would be closer to Russell at the end of the weekend than Russell was to the title leader, but that is not the case. In my defence, I never expected Ferrari to be the 5th fastest car.
So, not a fantastic weekend for my predictions.
F1 2025 Standings after the Miami Grand Prix 20m45s
We’re now one quarter of the way through the season. Some races have been fantastic, a couple have been a bit rubbish, and qualifying’s always been intensely competitive. But while some teams have ups and downs, McLaren have always been at the sharp end.
They’re on 246 points, ahead of Mercedes on 141. That’s a pretty crushing margin. Red Bull are next on 105, with Ferrari on 94. Given Red Bull only had one driver scoring until recently this is especially poor from the Prancing Horse. I wouldn’t be surprised if they give up on this season sooner than planned in order to try and improve their 2026 prospects.
When it comes to the midfield Williams are best of the rest on 37, with Haas on 20 and Aston Martin on 14. Racing Bulls are on 8, ahead of Alpine’s 7 and Sauber’s 6.
Aston Martin had some good early results, and would’ve scored more then if Alonso weren’t cursed, and this is still standing them in good stead. Williams really made hay in Miami, and while that circuit wasn’t to Haas’ liking I’m expecting them to score plenty more points during the season.
The Drivers’ title battle is rather closer. Piastri’s extended his lead at the top, and has 131 points to Norris’ 115. This means Norris is 16 points behind Piastri as well as 16 points ahead of Verstappen’s 99 points. Russell is on 93 points, but unless he can start taking bites out of the lead by finishing ahead of the McLarens then I think the best he can hope for is 3rd.
Leclerc is on 53 points, just ahead of Antonelli’s 48. Hamilton’s on 41 points. Antonelli was impressive throughout the Miami Grand Prix weekend, exactly the opposite of Ferrari. Whether he can look faster than Russell consistently remains to be seen.
Albon’s great finish in Miami cements his position as best of the rest, with 30 points. Ocon and Stroll are next with 14.
As for the title fight, since his weak Australian result, Piastri has won four out of five Grands Prix, including the last three in a row, from pole, 2nd, and 4th on the grid. Yes, he’s got the best car, but he’s also driving impeccably right now. There’s still three-quarters of the season left, and things can change around but he’s looking good.
F1 News 23m45s
F1 news.
Miami has been extended all the way to 2041, which seems a ridiculously enormous time period to lock in a circuit. However, under Liberty the sport has been focusing more and more on the USA, with rumours of a desired fourth race in the country, so perhaps this isn’t surprising.
However, many have pointed out that Spa has become an alternating circuit while the USA has three permanent slots, with Miami now on the calendar until 2041, and most fans are less than delighted by this.
In addition, because we’re a quarter of the way through the season we’re going to find out shortly if Franco Colapinto will replace Jack Doohan. Pre-season there were very, very heavily repeated rumours that this was a done deal, not least because Colapinto signed a multi-year deal with Alpine and he didn’t do that because he loves being a reserve driver so much. Doohan’s not set the world alight but he hasn’t been awful either, so it’s a bit rough to axe him this early. More recently, there’s been speculation he might get more races, but if he does then Colapinto’s camp, including sponsors, will be less than happy.
Ferrari have upgrades planned for Imola and Spain, races 1 and 3 in the forthcoming triple header. How much longer they’ll develop this car before shifting focus fully to 2026 remains to be seen, but it might be better to make that change very soon indeed.
Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please leave a positive rating; this helps me out a lot and is much appreciated.
The next race is Imola, and the next podcast will be looking ahead to our first race in Italy. Ferrari must hope their pace there is rather better than it was in Miami.
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