Piastri went on to head a commanding McLaren performance in Miami as he and Lando Norris delivered a one-two result.
George Russell was their nearest challenger in third, more than 37 seconds off the race lead after 57 laps.
What’s more, Piastri didn’t even hit the front until Lap 14, meaning he was able to pull away from his nearest non-McLaren rival at a rate of almost a second a lap.
To gain the lead, he had to do battle with pole-sitter Verstappen, who offered an unyielding defence until he was pressured into a mistake.
“It was tough at the beginning trying to get past Max,” he said.
“I tried pretty hard to get past, with everything still on my car.
Secure your spot today.
“It was not easy but I picked my moments when I needed to.
“I could tell that we had a lot of pace from the get-go today, and it was going to be a matter of when I got past, not if.
“But I wanted to do it as efficiently as I could because I knew once Lando got back behind me, he was going to be catching us a lot.
“I wanted to get through quickly but cleanly.
“I felt like I did a pretty good job of that, then built a gap.”
Piastri unsuccessfully attacked Verstappen into Turn 11 midway around the lap and Turn 17, the left-hander at the end of the back straight, on multiple occasions.
The Dutchman was resolute in his defence, firm but fair as he held the inside line until eventually making a mistake under braking at Turn 1.
Anticipating as much, Piastri delayed his turn in, ducking behind the Red Bull and out-dragging Verstappen to take the lead.
From there, he quickly built an advantage as Norris, who’d recovered to third after losing out in a Turn 1 stoush with Verstappen at the race start, began to challenge the four-time champ.
By the time the Brit was clear, Piastri held an eight-second margin.
That proved crucial when the Virtual Safety Car was shown for Oliver Bearman as it afforded McLaren the chance to pit its drivers on the same lap, servicing them one after the other.
It allowed the squad to mitigate the chances of being strategically compromised by the VSC without having to offer one of its drivers preferential treatment.
From there, McLaren was unchallenged to the flag, though Norris did close on Piastri over the final stint.
“The race today was pretty solid, but yesterday I was pretty frustrated with my performance,” Piastri said, referencing his fourth-place grid spot.
“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 single Sunday,” he added.
“Clearly, this is the exception to the pace we’ve had this year.
“Yes, we’ve always had a strong car, but the pace we had today from lap one it felt like was unexpected, even for us.
“I’ll definitely take the performance and we’ll try and work out how to do that every weekend, but there’s still definitely things to work on from a personal side and from a team point of view.”
Piastri has won four of the six races this season, and the last three in a row.
He sits 16 points clear of Norris at the top of the championship, that advantage growing by six points over the Miami GP weekend.
McLaren is in a dominant position in the constructors’ fight on 246 points, a whopping 105 ahead of Mercedes, with Red Bull 36 points further back.
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