Oscar Piastri has revealed his unexpected celebration after winning the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix was the result of a bet made with NFL star Justin Jefferson, and admitted his dance attempt was “poorly executed” live on world television.
The McLaren driver delivered a dominant performance on Sunday, taking his fourth win of the season and finishing over 35 seconds ahead of the nearest non-McLaren car.
But it was his antics in parc fermé that got fans talking, as the typically reserved Aussie broke into a brief shuffle, or something resembling one.
“I knew that was going to be the question!” Piastri said in the post-race press conference.
“It was an attempt at a Griddy, as you can tell, poorly executed. I met Justin Jefferson on Thursday, who has essentially made the Griddy world famous, and stupidly made a bet with him that if I won the race, then I would do one for him.
“After qualifying yesterday, I didn’t practice because I thought that was definitely not going to be needed. So yeah, that was my first attempt at a Griddy live on world TV. I stayed true to the bet, but that’s the one and only time you’ll be seeing me do that.”
Clips of the celebration quickly made the rounds online, with fans split between admiration for his commitment and second-hand embarrassment for the execution.
Piastri seeking qualifying and dancing improvements after Miami GP
Despite the dance, there was nothing clumsy about Piastri’s performance on track.
After clearing Max Verstappen early on, the 24-year-old built a commanding lead and never looked back, even as teammate Lando Norris narrowed the gap in the closing laps.
“I think the first stint was really, really strong,” Piastri said.
“Then the Hard stint, I was honestly struggling a little bit. So it was a good thing that I built that gap in the first stint. I think towards the end I started to get things a bit more back under control.”
Asked where he feels there’s still room to improve, Piastri quipped: “Celebrations – that’s definitely top of the list at the moment!”
He added: “This weekend was not my best, and a lot of that was yesterday. The race today was pretty solid, but yesterday I was pretty frustrated with my performance.
“Ultimately, yes, I won the race this weekend, but I think the likelihood of winning many races [after] qualifying fourth is pretty low. I did a lot of things right today, but there was definitely some good fortune there as well, and a very quick car. I don’t want to rely on that every Sunday.”
The win puts Piastri on 131 points, 16 ahead of Norris, with Verstappen trailing on 99. And while things remain friendly inside the McLaren garage, Norris did get a light jab from George Russell post-race, who joked that an earlier “crash” in their pre-race Lego challenge might’ve earned him an injured leg.
For now, McLaren looks like the team to beat and Piastri, however questionable the dancing, continues to deliver when it matters most.
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