Dominant Oscar Piastri extends title lead in McLaren Miami rout

Oscar Piastri has won his fourth race of the F1 campaign, continuing his strong start to the new season.

The Australian driver led home a dominant race for McLaren as team-mate Lando Norris came home in second place - 33 seconds ahead of George Russell.

Rainfall was forecast on the build-up to the race, and indeed a support category event was cancelled due to a huge downpour. 

However, the wet weather failed to have an impact on the F1 race.

Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull while Alex Albon secured his second fifth-place result of the year, continuing Williams' strong run of form.

Piastri capitalises on early Verstappen mistake

Verstappen was relatively unchallenged from pole position as the pack head into the first corner but a lock-up put him in a vulnerable place. As they ran side by side into the second corner, Verstappen had another moment which forced Norris off the track.

Norris’ costly trip across the runoff area demoted him to sixth place, before the race was neutralised with a virtual safety car following a puncture for Jack Doohan.

However, both McLarens did not waste time making progress at the restart as Piastri moved ahead of Antonelli for second while Norris dispatched of Albon, Russell and Antonelli by lap 9.

The drivers were then warned that rain was approaching, which would be extremely heavy should it pass over the track, prompting an attack on Verstappen from Piastri.

On lap 14 of the race, Verstappen moved to the inside line to defend but locked up and ran off the track, gifting the lead to Piastri before Norris launched an attack of his own.

Lap 18 saw Norris complete the overtake on the four-time champion, one lap after the pair squabbled with a battle that ended in the runoff area.

Virtual safety cars and pit stops

The pit stop phase of the race for the key contenders began on lap 26 as Antonelli pitted from fourth in a bid to undercut Verstappen.

However, the Italian was held up in his pit box to avoid an unsafe release which dented his chances of making a successful move.

Verstappen responded on the following lap and stayed ahead of the Mercedes driver before a virtual safety car was thrown following an issue for Oliver Bearman that saw him pull off in the runoff area.

Piastri, Norris, Russell and Leclerc all managed to pit while the virtual safety car was out, allowing Russell to progress ahead of Verstappen for third.

Additionally, Russell was equipped with a set of medium tyres as he took the hards in the first stint, an alternate strategy to those around him.

A third virtual safety car was called on lap 33 when Gabriel Bortoleto pulled to the side of the road with a power unit issue.

Run to the chequered flag

McLaren was unchallenged en route to the chequered flag as the leading duo built up an advantage of over half a minute to the competition behind.

Piastri's latest victory sees him extend his championship lead to 16 points over Norris.

With Russell and Verstappen third and fourth respectively, Albon bagged a seismic result for Williams in fifth place.

It offered relief to the Thai driver who expressed dismay after a time penalty on Saturday stripped him of points in the sprint race.

Antonelli was sixth in the second Mercedes, while Leclerc and Hamilton ended the race in seventh and eighth, capping off a disappointing race for Ferrari.

Towards the end of the grand prix, Hamilton was involved in a war of words with the Ferrari pit wall.

Carlos Sainz was ninth for Williams to bring home a double-points finish for Williams while Yuki Tsunoda bagged the final point for Red Bull, overcoming a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.