McLaren's Oscar Piastri won for the fourth time in six races this year as he beat team-mate Lando Norris in an action-packed Miami Grand Prix.

Both McLaren drivers fought intense battles with early leader Max Verstappen's Red Bull as they moved up to the front of the field.

Piastri, who started fourth, drove a race of clinical excellence to pass both Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and then Verstappen to assume the lead, before managing his gap to his pursuers to the end.

Norris, who dropped back to sixth on the first lap after running wide while battling for the lead with Verstappen, was also decisive in making up for his earlier misfortune.

Norris ate into Piastri's lead through the second half of the race but the Australian kept him at arm's length.

Mercedes' George Russell benefited from one of three virtual safety-car periods to vault ahead of Verstappen and take the final podium place, similarly keeping the Dutchman at bay over the closing laps.

And there was tension at Ferrari as the team first rejected and then accepted Lewis Hamilton's request to be allowed past team-mate Charles Leclerc as they raced on divergent tyre strategies.

Hamilton was let past to try to challenge Antonelli's Mercedes ahead of him, but failed to catch the Italian, or pull significantly ahead of Leclerc.

The first stint of the race was packed with drama at the front. Verstappen ran deep into the first corner and Norris attempted to pass him at the next curve.

But Verstappen jinked towards him and Norris ran off track, losing places to Antonelli, Piastri, Russell and the Williams of Alex Albon.

Norris complained that Verstappen ran him off the track, but the stewards decided the move was legitimate and took no action.

That left both McLaren drivers needing to make up ground to try to wrest the race win from Verstappen, and they set about the quest with gusto and determination.

At the front, Piastri swept boldly past Antonelli through the final part of the Esses in the first sector of the lap, before setting off after Verstappen.

Piastri was on Verstappen's tail by lap eight and began trying to work out how to pass the Red Bull.

Verstappen repeatedly defended to the inside, forcing Piastri to the outside, and the McLaren was never quite far enough alongside to claim the corner.

After several attempts, Piastri finally made it by on lap 14. Verstappen again defended to the inside into the last corner, and that allowed Piastri to get a run on him with the DRS overtaking aid.

Piastri tried the outside again into Turn One, and this time Verstappen went in too deep, ran wide, and Piastri cut back and nipped by on the exit of the corner.

Their battle had allowed Norris to close up to them, after wasting little time passing the drivers between him and the leaders.

Norris passed Verstappen by diving around the outside into Turn 11 on lap 17, but he ran off track in doing it, and had to give the place back.

But a lap later, he made the move with ease, Verstappen this time appearing not to bother defending after sensing the game was up.

Verstappen quickly dropped back from the McLarens, losing nine seconds in as many laps before his pit stop.

The world champion's day became worse when the virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed during the pit-stop period.

Russell, who was the only driver in the top 10 to start on the hard tyres like Hamilton, had not yet stopped and that VSC allowed him to pit for fresh tyres and rejoin still ahead of Verstappen.

For a while, Verstappen closed in on Russell but he could get no closer than about 1.8 seconds before failing to make any further progress. Stewards later rejected a protest by Red Bull that the Briton failed to slow under yellow flags.

At the front, Norris closed on Piastri, but after halving his deficit to four seconds, the Australian upped his pace to show he had time in hand and led comfortably to the end.

It is the first time a McLaren driver has won three races in a row since Mika Hakkinen over the 1997-98 seasons.

Piastri's win extends his championship lead over Norris to 16 points, with Verstappen the same margin behind in third place.

Behind Verstappen, Albon drove an excellent race in his Williams. He lost a position to team-mate Carlos Sainz early on, but regained it a few laps later and consolidated a strong result to confirm Williams' revival.

Antonelli held off the Ferrari challenge, whether from Leclerc or Hamilton, to take sixth, and the debrief at Ferrari may be interesting after shenanigans over the radio.

Hamilton pushed hard to be let by on his softer mediums tyres in the second part of the race. When he was rebuffed he said this was "not good strategy" and while being told they would get back to him, said: "Have a tea break while you're at it."

After finally being let by, Hamilton did begin to close on Antonelli, but Leclerc stuck with him, never dropping much more than a second behind, and in the final five laps, the team ordered Hamilton to give the place back.

After Hamilton apparently initially did not act on the instruction, Leclerc told them not to bother, and leave them both to try to close on Antonelli, but the order came anyway and Hamilton moved aside.

Sainz challenged Hamilton on the closing lap but had to settle for ninth, while Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda took the final point in 10th despite a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

1996 world champion Damon Hill on BBC Radio 5 Live

They're a good team these two, Piastri and Norris, and McLaren have absolutely smashed everyone in Formula 1 in Miami.

Piastri has matured into a very formidable competitor and a force within Formula 1. He knew he had the pace and he has put a lot of hard work into tidying up the rough edges and learning the things he needs to learn. He's progressed, as has the team.

It's a fantastic powerful point that McLaren were lapped two years ago [in Miami] so that is the measure of how much work this team have put in.

 

Lego-go-go: Before Sunday's race, all 20 drivers took to the track in full-sized Lego versions of their Formula 1 cars. The cars are made up of nearly 400,000 bricks, took 22,000 hours to build and can reach speeds of 12-12.5 mph. "That's the most fun we've ever had in the drivers' parade," said Lewis Hamilton.