Kimi Antonelli seals a third straight win in Miami and extends his Championship lead as the McLarens are looking sharper and ready to take up the championship challenge. Talking of challenge, our 2026 Miami F1 Grand Prix Result Summary will be tough to read.
This 2026 Miami Grand Prix Result, Laps that Matter summary, Review & Ratings gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
READ MORE: 2026 Miami GP Prix-view
READ MORE: 2026 Japanese GP and 2026 Season Ratings
2026 Miami F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – SPRINT RACE
McLaren are back as the long break looks to have done them a favour, Lando Norris cruises to the Sprint Race win. He took pole too, and Oscar Piastri flew off the grid to steal second at the start. Kimi Antonelli made a poor start, giving other drivers a chance. Charles Leclerc did a good job with 4th in Sprint qualifying and third in the race.
SPRINT RACE RESULT – NOR PIA LEC RUS VER HAM ANT GAS
Setting the scene – QUALIFYING
Kimi Antonelli continues his great run of form taking pole position from Max Verstappen, the young Mercedes driver and Championship leader has had the advantage over his more experienced team mate George Russell for most of the weekend. The top four is made up of four different teams, which is a very good thing considering the early races before the break looked to be of Mercedes benefit. The drivers in 5th to 7th never looked likely and it may be a frustrating afternoon for them stuck in the upper midfield. Decent progress from Alpine to both make the top ten.
GRID AFTER Q3 – ANT VER LEC NOR RUS HAM PIA COL GAS HUL
Setting the scene – RACEDAY
Race day is overcast and there is a threat of some rain. Earlier in the week there was sensationalist talk of lightning stopping the race, so we will see. Nothing usually that electric happens in Miami, but we’re happy to be proven wrong. Only change from qualifying is Isack Hadjar starting from pitlane and Gabriel Bortoleto starting from the back of the grid.
Lap 1 – Pole sotter Kimi Antonelli makes a better start than usual, similar to Max Verstappen’s, but it’s Charles Leclerc that comes flying around both heading into turn one. But somehow approaching turn one the Mercedes and Red Bull have caught up and squeeze on either side, from which Antonelli on the outside takes avoiding action and runs wide. As the car thunder through turn two Max Verstappen spins but somehow recovers quickly without being smashed. Ultimately Charles Leclerc keeps the lead, and the Mercedes of Antonelli somehow is second in the wash up with the McLarens doing well to be 3rd and 4th from 4th and 7th on the grid. Further around Lewis Hamilton and the Alpine of maybe Colapinto touch arguing over a place, both continue. Further back at the same corner Max Verstappen almost tangles with Liam Lawson’s Racing Bull. Verstappen’s first lap ends with an entertaining battle with both of the Williams cars for 9th. One of the biggest losers is Nico Hulkenberg who has gone missing and is last.
ORDER – LEC ANT NOR PIA RUS HAM COL LAW VER ALB
Lap 3 – George Russell passes Oscar Piastri for 4th place going into turn one, Piastri continuing to look a little underwhelmed by the Miami track like qualifying. This duo are a little far behind the top three who are all within a second of each other.
Lap 4 – Kimi Antonelli has a dive at Charles Leclerc halfway around the lap without success, but is showing some serious pace, especially with the long back straight to come. And overtake down the long, back straight he does, the race has a new leader in Kimi Antonelli, and that might be it for the win today based on Antonelli’s Japan form.
Lap 5 – Not so. Charles Leclerc retakes the lead halfway around the next lap and the Ferrari leads again. Coverage quickly pans to Isack Hadjar in the wall, as even quicker was Lando Norris taking advantage of Kimi Antonelli to steal second before the lap is out. And just when folk were wondering about whether there would be a safety car or not for HAdjar, there’s the footage of Pierre Gasly’s Alpine backwards into the wall with the rear in the air stuck in the barrier. So we wait for the replay to see if the Hadjar-Gasly crashes are linked, or how Gasly manages to get in that position. A Safety Car gives us time to wait. Isack Hadjar is putting on the full display of drama, still shaking his fists after getting out of the car. He looks angry, wonder why.
ORDER – LEC NOR ANT RUS PIA HAM COL VER ALB SAI
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Lap 7 – Max Verstappen pits under the Safety Car and rejoins third last. Replays show Isack Hadjar’s crash was self-inflicted. He clips the inside wall before the dinky chicane under the highway and then finishes the job in the post-chicane outside barrier. So his anger is at himself, and probably should be. The Gasly incident then is replayed and given he is backwards up into the barrier did have some help. Pierre Gasly had used his speed down the back straight to pass Liam Lawson and was well ahead but on the outside of the tight left hand turn and left enough racing room. Lawson appeared not to slow down enough and clipped the left rear on Gasly which sent him into a roll which then ended up in the end position in the barrier. So if Liam Lawson’s car isn’t broken he’ll have a nice penalty. Gasly is OK. Lawson is out btw.
Whilst we’re waiting for the Safety Car to leave there’s talk of rain coming in 25 minutes. Heavy but short, which is perfect.
SAFETY CAR EXITS
Lap 12 – Race resumes and Charles Leclerc gets the jump on the rest of the field. Bad start for George Russell as Oscar Piastri nips past and the Mercedes is immediately under pressure from Lewis Hamilton. Russell keeps his fifth place for now. Max Verstappen is making great progress after his pit stop. He is on the hard tyre though, so probably needs to make them last until the end.
ORDER – LEC NOR ANT PIA RUS HAM COL ALB SAI BEA
Lap 13 – Lando Norris makes a super move around the outside of Charles Leclerc halfway around the lap and takes the lead. Kimi Antonelli demotes Leclerc further into the hairpin at the end of the back straight, but the Ferrari using the new MarioKart super powers retakes second place from Antonelli, for now.
Lap 14 – Kimi Antonelli retakes Charles Leclerc for second place just before the chicane. The Mercedes is too quick down the back straight and burns off the Ferrari down the pit straight and keeps second.
Lap 16 – Lando Norris has cleared out in front a little bit, with a lead of two second to Kimi Antonelli, with Leclerc a second behind the Mercedes. Oscar Piastri is just over a second behind with the squabbling Russell and Hamilton still working on 5th and Russell complaining on radio. Max Verstappen has a battle with Alex Albon where he passes, losses and passes again. Given he doesn’t have to stop, he is within a pit stop of all the cars in front – 19 seconds is the time lost under a pit stop at this track.
Lap 17 – Oscar Piastri gets past Charles Leclerc for third, and then is quickly re-taken by the Ferrari, Piastri showing his first glimpses of speed for the race. Leclerc has dropped off by three seconds from Antonelli. The Piastri-Leclerc swap happens again the following lap as the McLaren briefly takes third again.
Lap 20 – Some F1 admin as Max Verstappen is in trouble for crossing a line at the pitlane exit, he is now under investigation. And the fact that Alex Albon squeezed Max Verstappen towards a pit lane bollard is also under investigation. And radio comms advises rain is coming within two laps.
Lap 21 – Max Verstappen isn’t waiting on the verdicts of the above and passes Franco Colapinto, who is doing a fine job in the Alpine and was in 6th place, as George Russell pitted for new tyres and drops to 12th. Charles Leclerc pits for tyres too, and his pit stop is nearly four seconds, which is an age in this era, and is costs him a place as George Russell swings past to take 10th on track. These pit stops seem premature though if rain is coming very soon.
ORDER – NOR ANT PIA HAM VER COL SAI ALB BEA RUS
Lap 23 – George Russell makes light work of Oliver Bearman’s Haas, and he should, newer tyres and better car. Russell does the same to Alex Albon a lap later. Leclerc is following him through as he goes. Rain is almost here and turns seven and eight are the ones to cop it, which could be good as it might bring some actual water to the fake marina and cruise ship. Also copping it is the Ferrari team from Charles Leclerc, obviously grumpy at the timing of the pit stop.
Lap 25 – The rain has started, not heavy as promised yet, but spots on the in-car cameras.
Lap 26 – Max Verstappen passes Lewis Hamilton for fourth, and unlike five or so years ago, it is without incident. Kimi Antonelli pits from second place and rejoins just ahead of Colapinto in 5th. Will Lando Norris pit and respond or wait for the weather? It is the former as Lando Norris pits from the lead on lap 28. So does Lewis Hamilton.
Lap 28 – Kimi Antonelli has been working hard since his pit stop and has enough speed to get ahead of Lando Norris. Oscar Piastri leads still as he is yet to stop, and Max Verstappen is also ahead of Antonelli and Norris, but he has stopped, so that strategy has worked for now, but is on much older tyres and may have to pit again. Piastri does have to pit and does so at the end of the lap, dropping to 7th.
Lap 30 – Kimi Antonelli inherits the lead form Piastri and he clears out a little from the battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen which is ultimately won by the McLaren after some swapping. Further behind George Russell passes Charles Leclerc for 5th. A lap later the Ferrari and Mercedes swap positions. Oscar Piastri sets fastest lap and he’ll need that speed if he wants to feature in the sharp end from his current 7th. Colapinto pits a lap later which helps the latter trio of drivers.
ORDER – ANT NOR VER COL RUS LEC PIA HAM OCO BOR
Lap 32 – Well that rain was a disappointment, and so we’ll have to rely on the drivers and cars for now. Antonelli has enough pace in front and has a 1.5 second gap to Norris. Max Verstappen has dropped off and is five second behind Norris and will probably have to stop again, but can put on some speedy soft tyres. The Leclerc-Russell-Piastri pack is eight seconds further behind. More radio talk of rain, but we’ll believe it when we see it.
Lap 35 – Oscar Piastri passes George Russell into turn one for 5th, he’ll need more speed as Leclerc is seven seconds up the road. But never mind Leclerc, Russell passes Piastri back half a lap later. Piastri retakes the position at the end of the back straight.
Lap 36 – Further ahead there’s another Mercedes-McLaren battle, this one for the lead. Radio talk of car troubles for Kimi Antonelli are dismissed by the team, but Norris has closed within a second now and looks ready to steal the lead back.
Lap 40 – Antonelli and Norris still circulating closely but not close enough to hint at some positional change. Behind them Max Verstappen still hasn’t pit again and is 12 second adrift.
Lap 45 – This race has really quietened down, with the Kimi-Lando battle not really happening. Fan have to turn their attention to the looming battle for third between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Or look to the skies for rain. Or to the steward, as Kimi is informed over the radio that he is on his last strike for track limits.
Lap 47 – Charles Leclerc catches Max Verstappen and breezes past into turn one for third place. But not to be outdone, Verstappen on the much older tyres retakes the place a few corners later. But a few corners later Charles Leclerc takes third place again. Meanwhile Oscar Piastri has closed on both of them.
Lap 48 – Oscar Piastri passes Max Verstappen for fourth place into the back straight hairpin and does well to protect that move down the pit straight. He’s a couple of second behind Charles Leclerc if he wants the final podium.
Lap 50 – Kimi Antonelli continues to have problems with his gears and Lando Norris finds some speed in his pursuit of first place. An interesting battle at the other end of the field as it is Fernando Alonso pressuring Sergio Perez for 15th, and winner of the sh!t teams cup.
ORDER – ANT NOR LEC PIA VER RUS HAM COL SAI ALB
Lap 54 – No we haven’t fallen asleep, there’s just no real action on track except for a happier George Russell closing in on Max Verstappen, which could get interesting if he gets close enough. Oscar Piastri is also sort-of closing in on Charles Leclerc.
Lap 55 – George Russell does close on Max Verstappen and he appears to clip Verstappen’s rear tyre with his front wing. Which is more of a disadvantage to Russell at the moment, as the wing looks a little bent. Piastri is now right on Leclerc’s tail, so the final podium spot isn’t yet sealed.
Lap 56 – Piastri passes Leclerc for third into the back straight hairpin, and the Ferrari spins at high speed around his final lap and somehow continues like nothing happened. Replays show a slight nudge in the wall as the corrected the car.
FINAL LAP – Kimi Antonelli cruises around the final lap and takes a third win in a row and extends his Championship lead. Lando Norris is equally comfortable in second. Less calm is the battle for fourth behind where George Russell takes a massive dive on Charles Leclerc into the back straight hairpin and locks up and touches Leclerc but still steals fourth. In the three car wide rush for the chequered flag, Max Verstappen takes fifth place from Leclerc and Russell crosses the line in sparks as his front wing drags on the ground. It might not be the end of it all though, as multiple investigations are launched after the race ends. So places may not stay as they are.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – ANT NOR PIA RUS VER LEC HAM COL SAI ALB
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. 5 points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – KIMI ANTONELLI
Another pole position, some great overtaking during the race, and looks so composed when in front. A third win in three races and extends the Championship lead. It helps to have the best car in the field, but he is certainly outshining the much more experienced George Russell.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
LANDO NORRIS – Sprint Race win shows he and McLaren are back. The actual race shows similar speed and Norris leads for a number of laps until the pitstops and also made some fine overtakes making his way to the front. Soldi second place will do for now.
CHARLES LECLERC – Great start to liven up the early laps, did well to hang on during the race, but the Ferrari isn’t a Mercedes, McLaren or Verstappen yet.
MAX VERSTAPPEN – A point for his lightning recovery after first lap spin, then how he was able to hang on so long to the front runners on old, hard tyres.
FRANCO COLAPINTO – A best of the rest performance throughout the race and decent job in qualifying. A steady performance that saw him catch the eye previously before he became Crash-a-pinto.
FERNANDO ALONSO – Winner of the back four cup.
THE GRAPE-EST – ISACK HADJAR
A slightly underwhelming weekend up until race day ends in the wall with an unforced error. Hopefully not the beginning of the slide of the Red Bull number two, as is traditional.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
LIAM LAWSON – Involved in a clash that sees Pierre Gasly roll, with not only ended his race, but will probably earn him a grid place penalty for the next race.
PIERRE GASLY – Getting flipped into a roll is never fun, even if it is low speed. Couldn’t take advantage of a top ten start for some good point.
ASTON MARTIN – Still terrible.
VALTTERI BOTTAS – Hard to impress in the Cadillac, but is being beaten by Perez in qualifying and copped a pit lane speeding notice in the race.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
PRE RACE ACTION (FP, QUAL, SPRINT, OFF TRACK etc) – 3 / 5
Qualifying was interesting enough with a battle for pole that could have gone to a number of drivers. Sprint Race was dull and an argument for not bothering with them, or at a minimum not to have any more than current.
ON TRACK ACTION (RACE) – 6 / 10
An exciting start, and lots of racing in the first half of the race with a few crashes and Safety Car thrown in.
ANY SURPRISES? – 2 / 5
McLaren getting closer to the front after the break is a bit of a surprise, but also not surprising, yet welcome for the Championship.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 3 / 5
A rejuvenated McLaren is important for the season ahead, with Lando looking the better of the two this weekend. Kimi Antonelli’s composure compared to his team mate is a window into whether he can maintain a title battle. Max Verstappen showing speed also helps to bunch up the Championship. If they can catch Kimi.
ENDING – 3 / 5
The last 15 laps were pretty dull, the last two were great with action a plenty.
OVERALL RATING – 17 / 30
Pockets of great racing, including an exciting first lap, mixed with pockets of dull. Rain promised but never really came. Still not convinced the new regulations don’t make the racing feel artificial despite the tweaks made in the long break, but will enjoy the racing for now. At least the Championship could be closer going forward despite a third straight win for Kimi Antonelli and a clean sweep for Mercedes as a team.
2026 F1 Season Preview Gear
In case you haven’t got enough with the above. Here’s the best of 2026 in advance……
2026 F1 Season Bold Predictions
Captain Hindsight’s 2026 F1 Season Obvious Sensible Predictions
The F1 Donkey’s 2026 F1 Season Opinion and Season Predictions
2026 F1 Season Verdict by AI Grek Norman
2026 F1 Car Liveries Rated
2026 F1 Season Ratings & Season Results Predictions
PLUS
2026 Chinese Grand Prix Prix-view
F! Donkey’s Australian Grand Prix Bold Predictions
AND
The Gurgler’s 2025 Stats Review & Driver of the Season
