Month: May 2026

That was a wild and entertaining Miami Grand Prix and yet Andrea Kimi Antonelli came out on top to achieve his third consecutive Formula 1 victory for Mercedes.

The Mercedes driver underlined his title ambitions by winning and resisting the pressure from reigning world champion Lando Norris.

Antonelli held off Norris after a dry race at the Miami International Autodrome, with Oscar Piastri completing the podium for McLaren after a late-race fade by Charles Leclerc, who had a spin on the final lap, allowing George Russell into fourth and Max Verstappen to take sixth.

The race started three hours earlier than planned as organisers tried to find a window to get the 57-lap race due to the constant threat of rain and thunderstorms.

But despite the prospect of rain, the race started in dry conditions, with the majority of the field setting off on medium tyres. At a chaotic start, polesitter Antonelli suffered another poor getaway, allowing Red Bull’s Verstappen and Ferrari’s Leclerc to immediately draw alongside as they went towards Turn 1.

Antonelli locked up and went off, while Leclerc took a cautious line into the corner that ended him the lead. Behind him Verstappen spun off on the exit, with the Red Bull rapidly pointing his car in the right direction again. In doing so, Verstappen was lucky not to be collected by the chasing pack, but he did drop down to P10 battling the Williams drivers.

That allowed McLaren duo Norris and Piastri through to claim third and fourth, ahead of Russell and Hamilton, with the latter surviving contact with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.

On lap 4 Antonelli passed Leclerc for the lead, with Leclerc returning the favour on the following lap while Norris also followed the Ferrari driver through into second.

The race was neutralised after just five laps due to two separate incidents. In a spectacular-looking accident, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was flipped into a low-speed barrel roll after being clipped by Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson at Turn 17, Gasly ending up halfway up the barrier but escaping unhurt. Lawson also retired with terminal damage.

Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar crashed at the chicane while working his way up the order, the Red Bull driver having been demoted to a pitlane start due to a technical issue. Making an unforced error, Hadjar tagged the inside wall at Turn 14 which sheared off the front-left suspension and sent his car into the barriers at low speed.

After the lap 12 restart Norris snatched the lead away from Leclerc ahead of Antonelli, followed by a duelling Piastri and Russell. Verstappen had been the only frontrunner to pit for hards under the safety car, which initially dropped him down to P16. But as the expected rain did not materialise and the frontrunners also picked up hard tyres around the halfway point, Verstappen emerged into a lead and yet it was short-lived.

On much fresher tyres, Antonelli and Norris were both quickly able to repass Verstappen as he lost touch with the leaders, while Leclerc was fourth as Piastri passed Russell for fifth. Hamilton lost out after a slower pitstop, which demoted him to seventh and last of the frontrunners, while the Ferrari driver also appeared to nurse a damaged Ferrari after his early contact with Colapinto.

With no rain forthcoming, the race turned into a straight-forward one-stopper, and a duel between Antonelli and Norris as Verstappen struggled to keep up. On balance, Norris looked the quicker of the two but was unable to find a way past in Antonelli’s dirty air/.

But Antonelli managed to survive downshift issues and hang on to take his third consecutive win from pole, expanding his world championship lead on Russel to 24 points.

On worn Pirelli rubber Verstappen fell into the chasing group of Leclerc, Piastri and Russell in the final ten laps of the race. True to form Verstappen did not go down without a fight, clinging on to third around the outside of Leclerc, but he was powerless to hold off the Ferrari for much longer, and both Piastri and Russell also worked their way past.

Leclerc looked destined to take the final podium spot, but spun on the final lap, tapping the wall but luckily avoiding harder contact. Piastri went through to take third 27 seconds behind Antonelli, while Russell muscled his way to fourth ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc.

Hamilton finished a lonely seventh, with Colapinto eighth after a strong weekend performance, the Argentine running as high as fourth after delaying his first stop until lap 32.

In the background Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon defeated the Haas drivers to take an encouraging double points finish in ninth and tenth for the underperforming Williams outfit, being the last two cars finishing on the lead lap.

So a thrilling race in Miami with Antonelli taking victory. Kimi is riding this winning form with so much confidence and has the performance edge over his Mercedes teammate Russell. The next race will be Canada, in which last year George won. He needs to do the same to reduce the points gap.

Miami Grand Prix, race results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:33:19.273
2 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +3.264s
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +23.828s
4 George Russell Mercedes +43.051s
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +43.949s
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +44.245s
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +53.753s
8 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +61.871s
9 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +82.072s
10 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +90.972s
11 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap
13 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
14 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
16 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +2 laps
Nico Hulkenberg Audi DNF
Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford DNF
Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes DNF
Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford DNF

Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli has achieved a third successive pole at the Miami Grand Prix, resisting the challenge from Max Verstappen.

Antonelli’s first effort in Q3 was enough to keep his rivals away, with Verstappen’s final effort taking him second ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The qualifying session got underway at 4.00 P.M. local Miami time in hot conditions, with ambient temperatures of 34C and track temperatures well into the 50s.

Verstappen led the early running in Q1 ahead of Antonelli, Norris and the Ferraris, before Antonelli took command with a time of one minute, 28.653 seconds lap.

At the bottom of the order, the usual suspects Aston Martin and Cadillac soon proved out of touch with the rest of Formula 1’s midfield. There was also trouble for Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who after a delayed start with a power unit issues, leaving Gabriel on the side of the track. It was the second issue in as many sessions after teammate Nico Hulkenberg did not make the start of the sprint race.

With six elimination spots in Q1, that meant just one car would be drop out, with Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad taking P17 after the first runs. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was under threat as the McLaren driver used tyres for his final run. He then suffered from a poor first sector leaving him on the edge in P16.

Antonelli initially led Hamilton in Q2, with Norris now the McLaren driver finding himself in a spot of trouble. Norris aborted his first run after going off the track at Turn 6 but found enough time to take seventh, half a second up on the P10 cutoff.

As Verstappen went to the top with one minute, 28.116 seconds, both Alpines advanced to Q3 at the top of Formula 1’s midfield, with Franco Colapinto again ahead of Pierre Gasly as he was in sprint qualifying. It was the Alpine driver’s first Q3 appearance since Azerbaijan 2024.

Nico Hulkenberg was eliminated in P11 by a significant four-tenth margin, followed out by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson. The four cars from Haas and Williams were also eliminated.

In the deciding top ten shootout Antonelli set the beach mark with a time of one minute, 27.798 seconds, the first lap that improved on Lando’s sprint pole. Thanks of a rapid first sector, that effort was three tenths up on Leclerc and Verstappen. They were followed by Norris and Russell, with just half a tenth separating positions two to five.

Antonelli was one of several drivers who was unable to improve on the second attempt, but his first Q3 run was good enough to claim his third successive Grand Prix pole. Verstappen came closest on his final Q3 flying lap to jump Leclerc into second, revealing the Red Bull’s progress in Miami after a troubled start to the season.

Behind Leclerc, sprint race winner Norris beat Russell to the second row in fourth and fifth respectively, with Hamilton sixth. Piastri was a subdued seventh in the second McLaren, while Colapinto grabbed his best-ever qualifying result in eight. Hadjar and Gasly rounded out the top ten.

What an amazing qualifying result from Kimi Antonelli. So much confidence in the Mercedes and this is his third consecutive pole position. It will be fascinating if the Miami Grand Prix will run as there’s a threat of thunderstorms on race day.

Miami Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:27.798
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:27.964
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.143
4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.183
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.197
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:28.319
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.500
8 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:28.762
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:28.789
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:28.810
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:29.439
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:29.499
13 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:29.567
14 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:29.568
15 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:29.772
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:29.946
17 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:30.133
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:31.098
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:31.164
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.629
21 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.967
22 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:33.737

Lando Norris achieved McLaren’s first victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season by winning the Miami Grand Prix sprint race in a 1-2 for the defending constructors’ champions.

The defending drivers’ world champion finished 3.7 seconds clear of teammate Oscar Piastri, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completing the podium after the 19-lap race around Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

This was the first non-Mercedes victory of the 2026 championship after the Silver Arrows won the opening three Grands Prix, plus the Shanghai sprint, but was unable to bring many updates to Miami.

That is in contrast to several upgrades that McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull all brought, which was represented in sprint qualifying as Norris beat Kimi Antonelli to pole with Piastri completing the top three.

Leclerc and Max Verstappen respectively rounded out the top five, while George Russell only taking sixth.

The reigning world champion made a solid start but it was another poor getaway for Antonelli, who dropped behind Piastri and Leclerc into fourth with Russell and Lewis Hamilton jumping Verstappen.

Antonelli did fight back, trying to force his way past Leclerc into turns eight and eleven yet the Ferrari driver held firm and made an observation: “Kimi is so bad at wheel-to-wheel, I feel like we’re going to crash.”

In typical 2026 style that battle would have kept going in ‘yo-yo’ fashion, but tweaks were made for Miami with the super clipping limit increased to 350kW to decrease the reliance on energy management.

So, instead of keeping with Leclerc, Antonelli actually fell back and was overtaken by teammate Russell on lap eight at Turn 17, though the Mercedes driver regained fourth the following lap.

That was at Turn 11, just seconds before Verstappen overtook Hamilton over the white lines at corner exit.

The Red Bull driver therefore handed sixth back to the seven-time world champion, before finally completing a ‘legal’ move on Hamilton at Turn 17 during lap 10.

By this point, these were the only wheel-to-wheel battles happening, as the top three had moved clear with a comfortable Norris 2.7 seconds ahead of Piastri who led Leclerc by 1.3 seconds.

The Ferrari driver tried to close on Piastri but it was too little, too late, particularly when he went deep at Turn 11 on the penultimate lap. This meant that, in typical sprint race style, drivers largely maintained position across the final laps.

Norris therefore completed a controlled win from pole ahead of Piastri and Leclerc, while Kimi crossed the line in fourth and 2.5 seconds behind Charles.

However, the Mercedes driver was handed a post-race five-second penalty for track limit infringements, dropping him to sixth behind fourth-placed Russell and Verstappen in fifth.

Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly respectively completed the points positions, the Alpine driver continuing a strong start to 2026.

As a result of the penalty, Antonelli’s championship lead over Russell has dropped to seven points, while Leclerc remains third ahead of Hamilton and fifth-placed Norris.

So congratulations to McLaren with this 1-2 finish. The Papayas are back! Very promising pace for the constructors’ champions. Qualifying for the main Miami race is next.

Miami Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 29:15.045
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +3.766s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +6.251s
4 George Russell Mercedes +12.951s
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +13.639s
6 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +13.777s*
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +21.665s
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +30.525s
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +35.346s
10 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +36.970s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +48.438s
12 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +56.972s
13 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +57.365s
14 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +58.504s
15 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +59.358s
16 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +76.067s
17 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +76.691s
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda +77.626s
19 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +88.173s
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +89.597s
Nico Huldenberg Audi DNS
Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford DNS
*Five-second time penalty for track limits

Lando Norris will start the Miami sprint race in pole position after defeating championship leader Kimi Antonelli in an upgraded McLaren race car.

The defending champion topped what turned into a single-lap SQ3 shootout at the Miami International Autodrome, beating the early 2026 dominator Mercedes.

The session at the Miami Autodrome was the first competitive outing following a tweak in the rules to help drivers push flat out instead of excessive energy management, although the stop-start circuit around the Hard Rock Stadium was not the most representative venue to evaluate the success of the FIA’s intervention.

It was also the first qualifying session following an enforced five-week ‘spring break’, which most teams put to use to introduce upgrades. While 2026 leader Mercedes did not bring any updates for now, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull all rolled out significant upgrades to their respective race cars.

In SQ1 McLaren’s Norris topped the times, just 0.010 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton behind. The Mercedes duo of Antonelli and George Russell were fifth and sixth, a first indication that the Silver Arrows might have to pay a short-term price for being out of sync with its upgrade plan.

There was disappointment for Liam Lawson, as he struggled for brake temperature after a compromised warm-up, with the Racing Bulls driver eliminated ahead of Esteban Ocon.

Cadillac duo Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas were out in P19 and P20 respectively, the slowest of the twenty cars to set a competitive lap time. And that’s because Aston Martin’s nightmare with Honda continued, with neither Fernando Alonso nor Lance Stroll able to set a proper fast lap.

Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon had just aboutm making it through SQ1 but then tumbled at the next stage. As Leclerc led from Piastri with one minute, 28.333 seconds lap, Audi drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were also eliminated in SQ2, with Bortoleto missing the cut by just 0.021 seconds to Pierre Gasly. Arvid Lindblad also followed Lawson out the door in P15.

In the top ten shootout of SQ3, drivers waited until the end of the session for a single-lap run, with Norris confirming McLaren’s progress to take a sprint pole. At the venue of his maiden Grand Prix win in 2024, the reigning world champion established a lap in one minute, 27.869 seconds as the cars moved to soft tyres.

Championship leader Antonelli was just over one tenth off in second, narrowly bumped the second Papaya of Piastri off the front row. Leclerc was fourth, with Max Verstappen also showing some progress in the Red Bull in P5.

Russell was only sixth, ahead of Hamilton and an impressive Franco Colapinto, with Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly rounding out the top ten.

So congratulations to Lando Norris in getting pole position for the sprint race in Miami. Very encouraging to see McLaren making a positive step in terms of performance with the defending champion in P1 with Oscar Piastri in P3. It will be fascinating what will happen in the sprint race considering the new, tweaked regulations.

Miami Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.869
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:28.091
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.108
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.239
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:28.461
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.493
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:28.618
8 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:29.320
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:29.422
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:29.474
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:29.994
12 Nico Huldenberg Audi 1:30.019
13 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:30.116
14 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:30.216
15 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:30.224
16 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:30.573
17 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:31.043
18 Esteben Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:31.245
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.255
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.826
21 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:41.311
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda No time