MIAMI LOWDOWN: All the key moments as Antonelli wins again while Mercedes’ rivals show plenty of promise

It was another successful weekend for Kimi Antonelli at the Miami International Autodrome, with the Mercedes driver claiming his third successive Grand Prix pole position and victory to extend his championship lead over team mate George Russell.

Antonelli, following on from wins in China and Japan, now sits 20 points clear at the top of the Drivers’ standings, though competitive displays from McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull indicated that the Silver Arrows might not have it all their own way this season.

With plenty of other talking points also emerging throughout the event, here are all the key moments from the 2026 Miami Grand Prix…

Antonelli extends points lead over Russell

Antonelli made his F1 breakthrough at last year’s Miami Grand Prix when he charged to pole position for the Sprint – and the Italian teenager was on fine form again at the hot and humid Florida venue this time out.

After a compromised practice session and rollercoaster Sprint Qualifying/Sprint, which included a poor start and time penalty for exceeding track limits, Antonelli came back fighting in the main Qualifying session and Grand Prix itself.

Antonelli’s pole lap was sensational – one of only two drivers, along with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, to get into the 1m27s bracket, and some four-tenths quicker than team mate Russell, who is not a fan of the Miami International Autodrome.

On race day, Antonelli survived another tricky getaway, and then overcame Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris in wheel-to-wheel exchanges, to make it to the chequered flag first and secure a third successive triumph.

With Russell only fourth, which was set to be fifth prior to last-lap trouble for Leclerc, it means Antonelli is now almost a race win clear in the championship – putting pressure on his more experienced team mate to respond next time out in Canada.

“This is just the beginning; the road is still long,” said Antonelli afterwards. “But we’re working super hard, the team is doing an incredible job, and without them I wouldn’t be here – so it’s mainly thanks to them, my family. I’m going to enjoy this one and then get back to work.”

McLaren’s double podium and Sprint success

After three rounds of near-dominance by Mercedes when it came to one-lap pace, Norris secured the elusive honour of the first pole position for a different team as he shone in Sprint Qualifying. Oscar Piastri wasn’t far behind in P3, giving McLaren an early boost that their wide-reaching upgrade package could yield the kind of results they grew used to last season.

Their improved fortunes carried over into the Sprint as the Briton confidently led the field from lights to flag, with his team mate also gaining a position to bring home a coveted 1-2 finish for the Woking-based outfit.

As Leclerc claimed third place for Ferrari and the Silver Arrows settled for fourth and sixth, there were questions around whether the outcome marked a sea change in the pecking order. But Antonelli quickly bounced back to reinstate this season’s status quo, sealing an impressive pole position for the Miami Grand Prix while Piastri admitted that his disheartening P7 was a stark “kick back down to reality” following the team’s Sprint success.

With little to lose – and Norris starting slightly further ahead in P4 – McLaren avoided the chaos of the opening lap and stayed calm in the face of uncertainty surrounding the conditions, helping both drivers to take a turn leading the race.

As the various strategies unfolded, Norris found himself the victim of an undercut by Antonelli and, despite his best efforts to put relentless pressure on the Italian in the latter stages, he couldn’t find a way past and took a bittersweet P2. Although he felt that they could have achieved more, the added bonus of Piastri beating Leclerc to finish P3 left McLaren in high spirits for the next round.

A dramatic race and a late spin for Leclerc

If anyone thought that the looming threat of rain would produce a cautious start to the race, they were rapidly proven wrong, as the drama began as soon as the five red lights went out.

Antonelli has garnered somewhat of a reputation for his slow starts, something he was keen to shed as he started on pole position for the third consecutive Grand Prix. His effort to do so was quashed by Leclerc’s lightning-fast reaction, the Ferrari man shooting around the outside before Antonelli and Verstappen both locked up and inadvertently waved Leclerc into the lead.

There was more trouble to come for the Dutchman – at Turn 2, he lost the rear of his Red Bull machine and completed a full spin, forcing those around him into evasive manoeuvres as he plummeted down the order to P10.

Just as the early drama began to subside, Isack Hadjar hit the wall at Turn 14 after bumping over the apex, breaking his suspension in the process. And almost simultaneously, a separate incident occurred between Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson.

The latter, unbeknownst to Gasly in the moment, suffered sudden gearbox failure and couldn’t stop his car. As the Frenchman darted up the outside to gain a position, Lawson ploughed into the left-rear side of his car, causing the Alpine to be flipped upside down before finding the wall.

After the subsequent Safety Car period ended, scraps up and down the field remained clean until the very last lap. Piastri had already dispatched Leclerc for the final podium spot as the Ferrari driver spun and bumped the wall, leaving him to hobble to the finish line, defenceless against late overtakes by Russell and Verstappen.

Leclerc was later given a 20-second penalty by the stewards for leaving the track “on several occasions without a justifiable reason”, dropping him from sixth to eighth in the results.

Verstappen and Red Bull show progress

Along with most of the grid, Red Bull brought a plethora of upgrades to Miami, including its own version of Ferrari’s innovative ‘flip-flop’ rear wing, which Verstappen used to good effect.

The Dutchman batted with the Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari drivers to finish fifth in the Sprint, before springing a surprise in Grand Prix Qualifying by securing a front row start.

A dramatic but well-recovered spin through the opening corners dropped the four-time World Champion down the order, and Red Bull went for an early pit stop under a Safety Car to fit a set of hard tyres.

“We opted to go early onto the hard compound, and I think now in hindsight after the race it was probably a bit too long, that stint,” Verstappen commented. “It was just too difficult to keep the tyres alive.”

Although Verstappen briefly cycled into the lead, he fell back in the closing stages – but still claimed his best Grand Prix result of the season in fifth, which he kept despite receiving a penalty for a pit exit breach.

Team mate Hadjar, meanwhile, was an early retirement after hitting the wall at the chicane, claiming “this one really hurts because I had such good pace”.

F2’s North American debut

With events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia not taking place, the Formula 2 season was at risk of going nearly three months between the opening round in Australia in March and Monaco in June.

Instead, the junior single-seater series made its North American debut in Miami with a pair of thrilling races for the victory as the latter produced a first-time winner.

During the Feature Race on Sunday, MP Motorsport’s Gabriele Minì came out on top in an epic three-way tussle on a wet but drying circuit, eventually getting the better of Dino Beganovic (DAMS Lucas Oil) and Rafael Câmara (Invicta Racing).

On Saturday, Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov claimed his second win of the campaign, beating rivals Laurens van Hoepen and Alexander Dunne to the chequered flag after another frenetic battle.

Tsolov leads the standings by one point from Minì, with F2 competitors back in action again this month at another new venue in North America – the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Canada.

Plenty of star power on the Miami grid

Miami always attracts plenty of celebrities, who come to see the F1 stars in action – and they were not disappointed on Sunday, after being treated to a thrilling race.

Rafael Nadal was on hand to wave the chequered flag, the tennis great enjoying the F1 paddock but perhaps keeping half an eye on Jannik Sinner’s victory as well, as the world No. 1 continues to deliver the goods on Nadal’s beloved clay.

Serena Williams was another tennis star in town, following in the footsteps of sister Venus who is a regular F1 attendee. But it wasn’t just tennis that delivered superstar names to the Miami paddock, with Lionel Messi heading to Alpine as he caught up with Pierre Gasly, who might have fancied chatting about PSG’s recent Champions League win, and compatriot Franco Colapinto.

Actor Patrick Dempsey was in the paddock all weekend long, the car enthusiast speaking with plenty of drivers – all of whom know a fellow racer when they see one.

Terry Crews is heavily involved with Cadillac this season, so it was no surprise to see the actor here, and Colin Farrell was also on the grid – the Irish star demonstrating a clear love for a sport he has followed since the Eddie Irvine days.

So, all in all, plenty of famous faces watched on as Antonelli delivered the goods once again for Mercedes.