Kimi Antonelli has won the Miami Grand Prix, holding off Lando Norris to take a three-second victory. The Mercedes driver becomes the first driver to win his first three Grands Prix wins in a row from pole position as he delivered another strong performance to fend off Norris.
Norris tried to fight back, but the pace shown yesterday in the sprint, coupled with the timing of his pit stop, didn’t really allow him to chase down Antonelli. One source of optimism for McLaren is the massive gains made over the break, with the world champion believing that if they undercut the Mercedes, they may have had a chance of victory.
The reason why McLaren went longer than Antonelli was the radar; heavy rain had already moved the start forward three hours, but Norris pitted three laps later, and the rain never came. But this was a strong showing from McLaren, which introduced a major upgrade package this weekend, bringing them right into the fight with Mercedes.
But the question will be going into Montreal in three weeks, when Mercedes brings their upgrades, whether the gap has truly closed to Mercedes, or was it a case of them being out of sync with their rivals, which has closed the gap. What had at one stage been a four-horse race, in the latter stages became about Antonelli and Norris.
However, it wasn’t all straightforward for the race winner, once again off the line, he was swamped by Norris, Max Verstappen and George Russell. Before he fought back, passing Charles Leclerc and Verstappen on the run to the first corner. But as they battled for position, Leclerc squeezed him at Turn Two, and the four-time champion lost control on the kerb, spinning a full 360 degrees with the entire field behind him.
He quickly regained control but had dropped to tenth place and was now out of the fight for victory, a blow on a weekend on which Red Bull appeared to return to competitiveness.
Antonelli, who won in Miami and extended his lead in the championship “The start was not as bad as yesterday, it was a little bit better. I didn’t expect Charles to brake that early on, to avoid him, I locked up. I was lucky with what happened in Turn Two, I then did a little mistake with the energy management, trying to overtake Charles and then I lost a place to Lando but then the pace was strong.”
World champion Norris, who started fourth and finished second: “Mixed bag. We got undercut, no excuses other than that, we should’ve boxed first. Kimi did a good job, hats off to Mercedes and Kimi. They drove a good race. I have to be happy, as a team we have to be happy. I’m gutted to miss out on a win. Here in Miami, I think it was possible.”
Piastri, who finished third, said: “It’s not been the most straightforward weekend. Qualifying yesterday was a bit messy for both of us, but the pace seemed more encouraging again today. I had to make a few overtakes, obviously the end of the race was a pretty late charge, but just very, very tricky around here, especially in these conditions.”
Antonelli has a twenty-point lead over his teammate Russell, with Leclerc eighteen further behind the top three as they were, but Norris has jumped to fourth between the Ferrari duo. Mercedes is sixty-eight points clear of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, with McLaren eighteen further behind.
The race early on was shaping up to be a three-team battle in the early phase, but the Ferrari of Leclerc appeared to fade away, and then a spin on the final lap sealed his fate. Leclerc’s spin allowed Russell, followed by Verstappen, to overtake in the closing laps, Russell finishing nearly nine tenths ahead of the Red Bull.
However, the four-time champions’ fate had already been sealed. An uncharacteristic spin at the start saw him drop back from second on the grid and opt to pit under an early Safety Car, leaving him fighting to hang onto his aged hard tyres in the closing stages.
Leclerc then dropped three tenths behind Verstappen, as the tussle between the top four teams continued during the opening phase, to be halted by similar errors after leading at one stage. A slow stop followed by a spin and contact with the wall left him to limp home.
But both Verstappen and Leclerc must await the outcome of post-race investigations before their positions are confirmed. Verstappen could face action for crossing the white line at the pit-lane exit after his stop, and Leclerc for driving in an unsafe condition after his late spin. while Russell is under investigation for separate incidents with both Leclerc and Verstappen.
Leclerc was given a twenty-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and the damage was not a justifiable reason for cutting corners
Lewis Hamilton brought his Ferrari home seventh, finishing nine seconds behind Leclerc, Ferrari had hoped to move forward this weekend, but their upgrades didn’t deliver the step they would have wanted. Hamilton finished the race twenty seconds ahead of Franco Colapinto, the Argentine having one of his strongest weekends, and his long first stint saw him fourth at one stage.
Carlos Sainz finished the race twenty seconds behind Colapinto and ahead of teammate Alex Albon by eight seconds, as the Williams duo were the final cars on the lead lap and rounded out the points with ninth and tenth.
Ollie Bearman was eleventh, missing out on the points as he led the lapped cars, the Haas driver finishing nearly three seconds ahead of Gabriel Bortoletto. The Audi driver managed to split the two Haas as he finished four and a half seconds ahead of Esteban Ocon, Bearman delivering a strong bounce back in what is shaping up to be a strong second full season following his huge crash in Suzuka.
Arvid Lindblad was thirty seconds ahead of the backmarkers, Aston Martin and Cadillac. Fernando Alonso finishing two and a half seconds ahead of Sergio Perez while teammate Lance Stroll was five seconds further behind. Valtteri Bottas was further lap down.
Alonso, Albon and Ocon were also investigated for failure to slow under yellow flags, but no further action was taken.
The two other retirements were Liam Lawson following contact in the Lawson incident and Nico Hulkenberg.
Related
- Miami GP – Qualifying Result
- MIAMI GP – Kimi Antonelli beats Max Verstappen to take pole by tenth and a half
- Miami GP – Sprint Result
- MIAMI GP – Lando Norris beats Oscar Piastri by four seconds to win the sprint
- Miami GP – Sprint Qualifying Result
- MIAMI GP – Lando Norris beats Kimi Antonelli by two tenths to take sprint pole
- MIAMI GP – Charles Leclerc fastest from Max Verstappen by three tenths in practice
- Welcome to the Miami Grand Prix – 30/04/2026
- PRIXVIEW – Miami Grand Prix
