Antonelli takes third consecutive win from McLaren pair in incident-filled Miami Grand Prix
- Meghana Sree
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
Kimi Antonelli took a third consecutive victory at the Miami Grand Prix, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri joining him in the top three after podium-contender Charles Leclerc suffered a late-race spin and dropped to sixth with damage.
George Russell also had a disappointing Sunday riddled with issues, capping off his weekend with fourth as his teammate extends his championship lead, while Max Verstappen took his highest race finish of the year in fifth, recovering to the points after a spin during the opening laps.
Despite the rain hardly making a show, Miami turned out to be a chaotic race for the drivers. Here's how the fourth round of the 2026 Formula One season panned out.
Race Report
Following an earlier start, three hours ahead of the original race start time, 21 cars lined up on the grid, all on the medium compound. Isack Hadjar, who had been disqualified from qualifying, took his start from the pit lane on the hard tyres, attempting the alternate strategy to make up positions from the back.
As the five lights blinked out, Leclerc seized the lead immediately as expected as Antonelli went wide and Verstappen suffered a spin, dropping down to 10th from second.
Antonelli managed to hang on to second and not lose any more positions, as further behind, a number of cars brushed wheels including Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto in sixth and seventh respectively.
Russell meanwhile had immediately begun to make moves, taking fourth from Piastri who had had a rapid launch. Another driver with big gains through the opening laps was Alex Albon, the Williams driver gaining five positions from 15th on the grid.
Meanwhile, Audi’s nightmare weekend continued, as Nico Hülkenberg peeled into the pits for a front-wing swap. Back on track, Antonelli retook the lead from Leclerc on Lap 4, but the Ferrari driver swiftly repassed the Italian teenager the following lap in a thrilling battle between the two.
The next lap saw a generous dose of chaos, as Isack Hadjar clipped the wall and crashed, damaging his suspensions and separately, Pierre Gasly tapped Liam Lawson causing his car to fully flip and come to a rest askew against the barriers.
A full Safety Car was duly released, with Norris managing to make a move on Antonelli for second just before the intervention. The top 10 as the Safety Car continued into Lap 9 was Leclerc in the lead followed by Norris, Antonelli, Russell, Piastri, Hamilton, Colapinto, Albon, Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman.
Verstappen, the lone Red Bull in the race, had now dropped down to 16th after pitting for hard tyres. Meanwhile, the sister team’s Lawson had pulled into the pits to retire following damage after the contact with Gasly.
Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas also elected to take a pit stop, swapping his mediums for the soft compound.
On Lap 11, Leclerc took the field back to green flag racing, launching back to full speed through Turns 18 and 19. Leclerc held on to the lead, while back in fifth, Piastri squeezed past Russell, catching the Mercedes driver with a poor start.
The battle for the lead intensified between Leclerc and Norris, as the McLaren driver took the lead for the first time this afternoon. This released Leclerc back into Antonelli’s clutches, who passed him for second but lost the position again as the Ferrari driver reclaimed the position.
Antonelli and Leclerc continued their tantalising game of passing and re-passing each other through Lap 15, while Norris began to build a gap out front while the former two continued battling.
Meanwhile, drivers were being warned of light cells of rain in 10 laps’ time as the clouds overhead began to darken.
Further behind the leading pack, Verstappen had climbed back into the points, chasing the Williams pair ahead from 10th.
In third, Leclerc almost had a huge slide into the barriers while chasing Antonelli, dropping nearly four seconds behind the Mercedes car and inviting Piastri into his wake.
Meanwhile, Verstappen was noted for crossing the line at the pit exit, to be investigated post-race, as he made his way past both Williams drivers as well as Colapinto, taking fifth.
On Lap 21, Russell was called into the pits and rejoined in 12th, as Leclerc took the fresher rubber the following lap, much to Leclerc’s vocal consternation given the imminent threat of rain. By Lap 26, a few drops of rain were being reported by several drivers. The following lap, Antonelli came in for his first pit stop, quickly followed by Norris, Piastri and Hamilton all taking the new hard compounds.
This cycle of stops promoted Verstappen to the lead, who was then swiftly passed by Antonelli and Norris on fresher tyres. Moves were being made further behind as well, Leclerc taking fifth from Russell and lining up behind Colapinto. Once the Argentine driver took his stop, the top 10 into Lap 33 was Antonelli, Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Piastri, Hamilton, Colapinto, Bortoleto — the Audi driver choosing to pit that very lap.
Meanwhile, the threat of rain around Lap 25 had seemed to let up with nothing but a few drops to show for it, but Leclerc soon received a message warning of rain again in 10-15 laps.
Out in the lead, Antonelli radioed a frantic message with concern of a problem with the gearbox and paddles, as Norris crept closer to the Mercedes driver. Another Mercedes vs McLaren battle on track was being fought between Piastri and Russell for fifth, the two drivers trading overtakes into Lap 36, Piastri maintaining the edge over Russell.
Antonelli’s panic continued over the radio over his rears dropping, as Norris found himself within a second of the Mercedes car. As Norris patiently waited for his moment to seize the lead, the gap reverted to a second, the McLaren driver still unable to catch Antonelli off guard.
At the lower end of the field, Williams seemed locked in for double points but had Bearman for company chasing Albon for 10th, while both Aston Martins were still running in the race — a significant feat for the Silverstone outfit.
With 10 laps to go, Norris continued to drop away from Antonelli, while Leclerc began catching up to Verstappen — the two drivers locked in for a battle for third. Leclerc managed to pass the Red Bull into Turn 1 on the worn hard tyres, but Verstappen wasn’t intent on making life easy for Leclerc as he repassed him.
Leclerc eventually made the move stick, with Verstappen not able to put up a fight against Piastri either who took fourth. Meanwhile, Russell was stuck in sixth in a dismal weekend where he was once again far off the pace of his much younger teammate.
The final laps saw the cars proceed with the order unchanged, Russell still attempting to catch Verstappen to salvage more points. Into the penultimate lap, Piastri began to pile the pressure on Leclerc, and eventually passed the Ferrari driver for the final podium spot.
Things went from bad to worse for Leclerc, who then had a massive spin while chasing Piastri and managed to avoid a DNF by a hair’s breadth despite making contact with the barriers. His race rapidly came undone after the mistake, and he was soon passed by Russell and Verstappen, relegating him to sixth ahead of his teammate Hamilton.
Antonelli cruised home to a third straight win, with the Papaya pair completing the podium led by Norris. Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Colapinto, Sainz and Albon were the points-scorers of the session — Leclerc dropping from podium contention to sixth in a matter of seconds.
Find full results here.
Championship Standings
Antonelli continues to eke out his advantage in the lead, while Russell's fourth place means that the Briton has a lot of catching up to do over the next few rounds.
20 points separate Antonelli and Russell, the Italian driver with 100 points. Meanwhile, Norris' podium means that he's passed Hamilton in the standings for fourth behind Leclerc, the two drivers separated by 12 points. Verstappen has also made some gains, settling into seventh place following the Miami Grand Prix.
Further down, Colapinto's successful weekend sees him vault up to 11th with five points to his name.
Up Next
Alas, a couple more weeks await us before F1 is set to return in Montreal from 22nd to 24th May, where the championship battle will resume at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
