Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri were banging wheels as well as heads at the Miami Grand Prix. PETER COSTER reports on a wild weekend in the sun.
The last laps of the Miami Grand Prix were a wheel-to-wheel race between the two Australian drivers on the grid.
But they were far from where they wanted to be with Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo at the tail of the field after a weekend of rapidly changing fortunes.
Fans could have been forgiven for thinking there was something personal in it after Piastri replaced Ricciardo at McLaren.
That pushed the Honey Badger into a role as a reserve driver for his old team, Red Bull, before signing on with its junior team, AlphaTauri, now renamed Visa RB.
Piastri, managed by former Australian F1 star Mark Webber, also stood out for a year in a contract dispute with Alpine.
That was before stepping into Ricciardo’s seat at McLaren when the Honey Badger was sacked to make way for the Melbourne driver.
Ricciardo was looking at more days sitting on a tractor on his parents’ farm back in Western Australia than on summer breaks from Formula One.
Both drivers denied there was any animosity between them, but you might not have thought so as they banged wheels in the closing stages of the Miami race.
There were no points at stake and Piastri’s pit wall was so concerned an accident would bring out another safety car they repeatedly pleaded for Piastri to cool it.
Piastri’s teammate, Lando Norris, was leading the race after an earlier safety car gifted him what amounted to a free pit stop and fresh tyres as he rejoined ahead of the earlier front runners.
But the no-holds barred race between Piastri and Ricciardo at the tail of the field was more likely a case of boys who just wanted to have fun.
The first of three races in the United States this season was a weekend of ins and outs for both drivers.
It started with the Honey Badger stunning the crowd and the other teams with a second-row qualifying performance for the sprint race ahead of the Grand Prix.
Ricciardo qualified fourth behind Red bull reigning champion Max Verstappen, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
The Australian’s teammate, Yuki Tsunoda was 15th while neither Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell made it into Q3.
Ricciardo was also quicker than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who gave him a personal thumbs up after the sprint race in which Ricciardo maintained his fourth place qualifying position.
“I know it’s in me. Did I expect to do a second row start? Probably not.” Laughed Ricciardo whose seat at Visa Racing Bull has been under threat after a series of poor performances.
“I’m very proud of what I did today….things are definitely turning around,” enthused the eight-times GP winner.
That didn’t happen in the next day’s Grand Prix where Ricciardo started at the tail of the field after failing to get out of Q1 and being penalised three grid placings after overtaking under a safety car in the previous Chinese Grand Prix.
How did he explain the sprint dream that turned into a Grand Prix nightmare?
The best Ricciardo could offer was “a bad set of tyres” and a resultant lack of grip where cars are often within hundedths of a second of each other on the grid.
What of Oscar Piastri in the McLaren?
The Melbourne driver in only his second session has the promise of a future world champion having won the print race at the Qatar GP in October last year.
He was leading the Miami Grand Prix after starting sixth before a mid-race collision with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
The Spaniard received a time penalty but Piastri was forced to make an extra pit stop, ruining his race.
Piastri had been the McLaren frontrunner before Lando Norris benefitted from the safety car incident.
Nevertheless, it was a popular victory for Norris, who has been on the podium 15 times without reaching the upper step.
The British driver opened a gap on second-placed Max Verstappen before taking the checkered flag at the Miami circuit that saw a record crowd of 275,000, some watching from luxury yachts moored in a fake harbour.
Lando Norris finished the race standing on his McLaren, taking the plaudits of the crowd before crowd-surfing into the outstretched arms of his ecstatic team.
The 24-year-old laughed off the strip of plaster on his nose from a party mishap celebrating King’s Day on a party boat in Amsterdam. He looked more like an Egyptian mummy last week when he was hastily bound up after reportedly falling on cut glass.
Yes, boys just want to have fun.
The next Grand Prix is the Emilia-Romagna in Italy on May 19 and then the race around the streets of Monaco on May 26.
Results of the 2024 Miami Grand Prix
5th May 2024
| CLA | DRIVER | CAR | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 1:30:49.9 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | +7.612s |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | +9.920s |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | +14.650s |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | +16.407s |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | +16.585s |
| 7 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | +26.185s |
| 8 | George Russell | MERCEDES | +34.789s |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | +37.107s |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | +39.746s |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | +40.789s |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | +44.958s |
| 13 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | +49.756s |
| 14 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | +49.979s |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | +50.956s |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | +52.356s |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | +55.173s |
| 18 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | +76.091s |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | +84.683s |
| NC | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | DNF |
PETER COSTER is a former editor and foreign correspondent who has covered a range of international sports, including world championship fights and the Olympic Games.
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