Kimi Antonelli claimed his third consecutive victory of the 2026 season at the Miami Grand Prix, holding off a hard-charging Lando Norris to the very end. It was a race that had everything, from first-lap chaos, a safety car, and multiple lead changes to retirements and a flurry of post-race penalties. Norris and Piastri completed a McLaren double podium, securing second and third respectively. Here are five of the key stories from a dramatic afternoon in Miami.
1. A Chaotic Opening and a Safety Car
The race was barely off the line before the stewards were busy. Antonelli locked up at Turn 1 trying to defend from a fast-starting Leclerc and Verstappen, with the Red Bull driver making contact with the Ferrari and spinning a full 360 degrees, somehow without collecting anyone. That left Leclerc in the lead, and further back Hamilton tangled with Colapinto at Turn 11, shedding bodywork. Then, on lap five, the afternoon got even messier: Hadjar hit the wall at Turn 14 and retired on the spot, and almost simultaneously Gasly’s Alpine was flipped into the barriers after contact from Lawson’s Racing Bulls. Fortunately, the French driver got out of his car unharmed. Both Lawson and Hulkenberg pitted to retire shortly after, leaving four drivers out of the race before the first quarter had even been completed. The safety car came out to clear the wreckage, and it reshuffled the order and the strategies significantly.
2. Antonelli vs. Norris — A Battle That Lasted the Whole Race
Once the safety car came in, the real contest emerged. The lead swapped between Antonelli, Leclerc, and Norris multiple times across the middle portion of the race as each driver tried to make their undercut work at the pit stops. Antonelli’s team executed a well-timed stop that brought him out ahead, and from there it became a straight fight between the Mercedes and Norris’s McLaren. Norris closed in during the final laps and got to within a second at one stage while Antonelli was managing tire troubles and a potential gearbox issue, but the Italian held firm all the way to the checkered flag, winning by just over three seconds. It was a composed, intelligent drive from the 20-year-old, who now leads the championship by 20 points.
3. Leclerc’s Day Unravels Spectacularly
Charles Leclerc had one of the most eventful afternoons in the field. He led the race at multiple points, looked competitive throughout, but a string of incidents undid everything. His pit stop during the safety car period was slow at 3.7 seconds, and he spent much of the second half of the race fighting his way back through traffic and complaining on the radio about strategy calls. Then on the final laps he spun and clipped the wall while battling Piastri for third, dropping him into the path of both Russell and Verstappen. He crossed the line sixth on the road, but it got worse after the race, when the stewards handed him a 20-second time penalty for repeatedly leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which dropped him all the way to eighth in the final standings. Ferrari’s team principal described it as a tough day all round.
4. Verstappen’s Eventful Recovery and Post-Race Penalty
Max Verstappen started from second on the grid but was involved in the Turn 1 chaos immediately, spinning and dropping to the back of the field in the opening moments. From there it was a recovery drive, and a notable one — he pitted under the safety car for hard tires and charged back through the order, eventually scrapping with Leclerc and Piastri in the closing laps. He crossed the line fifth, but even that result came with a visit to the stewards: he received a five-second penalty for crossing the pit lane exit line. Fortunately for him, the gap behind was large enough that it didn’t cost him a place, and he held onto fifth in the final classification.
5. Colapinto Shines, and Williams Take a Double Points Finish
Away from the headline battles, there were genuinely bright moments further down the order. Franco Colapinto had a strong, clean race for Alpine and was rewarded with seventh place in the final standings after Leclerc’s post-race penalty shuffled things up, which is his best-ever result in Formula 1. Meanwhile Williams quietly got on with business: both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon came home in the points in ninth and tenth respectively, despite Albon having to make a late pit stop for a front wing change. For a team that has often found itself on the wrong side of the midfield battle, a double points finish is exactly the kind of weekend they needed.
