Juan Pablo Montoya saw ‘desperate’ Lando Norris do something he ‘shouldn’t have’ in Miami

Lando Norris took advantage of a virtual safety car period to win the F1 Sprint at the Miami Grand Prix, yet fell to 16 points behind Oscar Piastri in the rankings in Florida.

The McLaren teammates have moved clear of four-time reigning champion Max Verstappen at the top of the F1 drivers’ championship after the first six rounds. But, while Norris led the way after round one, Piastri took control through the Briton’s subsequent drop-off in results.

Florida marked a return to form for the 25-year-old, though, as Norris beat Piastri to win the Miami Sprint. He even out-qualified the Australian for a Grand Prix for the first time since F1 visited Japan. But Norris did not capitalise on starting from P2 and Piastri won the Miami GP.

Also, Piastri is the first McLaren driver since Mika Hakkinen in 1998 to win three Grands Prix in a row. His latest victory, and fourth of the 2025 F1 season so far, even moved the 24-year-old 16 points clear of Norris and 32 above Red Bull star Verstappen in the drivers’ standings.

Juan Pablo Montoya thinks Lando Norris ‘shouldn’t have’ tried his first lap move on Max Verstappen in Miami

Piastri could have achieved a double in Florida, too, if not for Norris getting a cheap pit stop with the timing of a VSC in the F1 Sprint. Yet the Melbourne native was also the one to take advantage of adversity for the other in the Miami GP when Norris tried to pass Verstappen.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Juan Pablo Montoya thinks Norris also looked ‘desperate’ when he attempted to go around his Red Bull rival’s outside at Turn 2 after Verstappen overshot his braking at T1 and left the door open. The Colombian feels it was a move the Bristol-born ace should never have tried.

The McLaren man fell from second to sixth place on the first lap after Verstappen ran Norris off the road to retain the lead of the Miami GP. But how Norris recovered to finish the race only 4.630 seconds behind Piastri impressed Montoya and keeps the title race ‘interesting’.

Montoya has told AS: “Norris qualified ahead of him and Norris found Max, because he tried a move that he really shouldn’t have tried and totally compromised his race. But in race pace, he took four seconds off Oscar.

“So, you look at it from that perspective of taking time away from Oscar again, which is what I’ve been saying, the championship is going to become very interesting.

“I think he was a little desperate in the first few laps, and then Norris controlled himself very well. Oscar is very good at picking up the leftovers, quietly, without doing much.”

McLaren are ‘sacrificing’ qualifying pace to help Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in races

Montoya is not alone in feeling like Norris made an error trying to overtake Verstappen at T2 at the start of the Miami GP. It is even a sentiment shared by McLaren, as Andrea Stella feels Norris could have avoided Verstappen forcing him off in Miami as it was an unnecessary risk.

McLaren were confident their drivers had enough pace in hand throughout the Miami GP to make the overtake on polesitter Verstappen possible later on if Norris bided his time. Piastri proved that was the case when he passed the Red Bull racer at the start of Lap 14/57 at T1.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Piastri also created a 39.956-second lead over Verstappen, who finished the Miami GP in P4 after Mercedes star George Russell undercut the Red Bull racer. McLaren’s dominance at the Miami GP also convinced Montoya that they are ‘sacrificing’ qualifying pace to gain in races.

Montoya said: “For me, the advantage McLaren have and why they’re so close to the other cars is because they’re 100% focused on the race.

“They are sacrificing one-lap speed for race speed, and they are very clear about it and know they have enough to be there or very close to it. In the race, they can fly, and the same thing happened again.”