Kimi Antonelli made history yet again in Miami, becoming the first-ever driver to convert his first three career pole positions into race victories. This rare feat means that Antonelli is now in a comfortable position at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings with a 20-point lead over his teammate, George Russell. McLaren showed real improvement, securing a double podium in both the main race and the Sprint, with Lando Norris claiming the Sprint victory. Ferrari brought the highest number of upgrades to the grid but failed to translate them into a strong performance. Red Bull also introduced some promising updates, but it was a remarkably unlucky race for Max Verstappen, who spun during the first lap but ultimately recovered to finish P5 after starting on the front row alongside Antonelli. It was a high-intensity race—despite the predicted rain never arriving—featuring fierce battling from the first lap all the way to the chequered flag.
The Miami Sprint weekend kicked off with the sole practice session on Friday, which saw Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri claim the top three spots in that order. Sprint Qualifying marked the first time this season a Silver Arrow failed to claim pole position, as McLaren’s Lando Norris went fastest in SQ3, with Antonelli and Piastri following behind to secure P2 and P3. George Russell endured a disappointing session, only managing to secure P6, behind Verstappen, who looked invigorated by his car’s new updates. Lewis Hamilton also had to settle for a disappointing P7, with his teammate claiming P4. Alpine continued to impress, with both cars making it into SQ3 to secure P8 and P10 on the Sprint grid.
The Sprint was entirely dominated by McLaren, who showcased excellent pace in clean air. Norris claimed the victory, and Piastri finished in second place, a comfortable six seconds ahead of Leclerc in third. Antonelli suffered yet another disastrous start and ultimately had to settle for P4 on track. However, he received a post-race five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits multiple times, which demoted him to P6 and promoted Russell and Verstappen to P4 and P5, respectively. Hamilton finished P7, and Pierre Gasly rounded out the points-paying positions in P8.
The main Qualifying session closely mirrored Sprint Qualifying. Both Aston Martins and both Cadillacs were eliminated in Q1, while both Williams and Haas cars exited in Q2. Racing Bulls and Audi each had one driver knocked out in Q1 and Q2. The top five teams, including Alpine, locked out the top 10 in both qualifying sessions, although Isack Hadjar was later disqualified due to a technical nonconformity and forced to start the race from the pit lane.
Antonelli claimed his third consecutive pole, while Verstappen delivered a brilliant final lap at the end of Q3 to lock in P2 on the grid—his best starting position of the season. Leclerc secured P3 ahead of Norris, who settled for P4 following his Sprint victory earlier in the day. Russell’s frustrating weekend continued as he could only secure P5. Hamilton and Piastri followed in P6 and P7, while the two Alpines secured P8 and P9.
The race was brought forward by three hours on Sunday due to heavy rainfall predictions, and once the lights went out, chaos ensued. Lap 1 delivered immediate drama, with Verstappen suffering a 360-degree spin that dropped him to P10. Antonelli once again had a poor launch, which played perfectly into the hands of Leclerc, who used the outside line to sweep past both Verstappen and the Mercedes into Turn 1. Further back, an incident between Hamilton and Franco Colapinto at Turn 11 left the seven-time world champion with reduced downforce for the remainder of the race due to sustained damage.
Antonelli managed to overtake Leclerc to reclaim the lead, but was re-passed on the subsequent lap and then overtaken by Norris just before a Safety Car was deployed on Lap 5. The caution was triggered when both Hadjar and Gasly went into the barriers; Gasly had made contact with Liam Lawson, sending his Alpine into a terrifying flip before striking the wall. Verstappen used the Safety Car period to make a cheap pit stop, dropping him down to P16.
After the restart, Norris was able to overtake Leclerc to take the lead of the race, before Antonelli also passed the Ferrari, dropping Leclerc from first to third in a matter of two laps. Verstappen carved his way through the field to P7 before the top five pitted, starting with Russell and followed by Leclerc. Antonelli and the two McLarens followed suit, temporarily handing Verstappen the race lead. Crucially, Antonelli managed to overtake Norris right as the McLaren exited the pits, before hunting down Verstappen to reclaim the lead. From there on, it was a cruise to the finish line for the young Italian, though there were a few late scares regarding track limit violations, with his race engineer Bono chiming in at one point to issue the teenager a stern warning.
Norris built a healthy gap to third place and went on to comfortably claim P2. Meanwhile, the battle for the final podium spot raged on until the closing laps between Leclerc and Piastri, both of whom had overtaken Verstappen around the 50-lap mark on much fresher tyres. Piastri finally managed to pass Leclerc on the penultimate lap, securing the final podium place after Leclerc suffered a spin that nearly put him in the barriers. Sustaining significant damage, Leclerc limped toward the finish line and was agonisingly overtaken by Russell and Verstappen in the final corner of the last lap.
Russell claimed P4, and Verstappen held onto P5 despite receiving a five-second post-race penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit. This was because Leclerc was hit with a massive 20-second penalty for leaving the track on multiple occasions without a justifiable reason during his damaged final lap. The penalty demoted the Monegasque driver from P6 to P8, promoting Hamilton and Colapinto to P6 and P7, respectively. Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon rounded out the top 10, securing valuable points for Williams in the Constructors’ Championship.
Miami promised rain but delivered an entirely different kind of storm on the track. Between the first-lap chaos, terrifying crashes, and last-lap penalty dramas, the 2026 regulations continue to produce wildly unpredictable racing. Antonelli departs American soil with his place in the history books secured and a commanding championship lead, but the resurgence of McLaren proves that the development war is blowing the grid wide open. With rumours about Mercedes bringing in upgrades to Montreal in two weeks, it will be really interesting to see how the rest will be able to keep up with the high-flying Silver Arrows.
Do stay tuned to Sri Lanka’s No. 1 Sports channel, ThePapare, to catch all the sports news all around the globe.
