Kimi Antonelli has extended his lead in the 2026 F1 world championship after winning the Miami GP. The Mercedes driver secured his third consecutive win, finishing ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
- Antonelli wins, 3.264 sec ahead of Norris
- Leclerc drops from P5 to P8 after penalty
Antonelli wins Miami GP
Starting from pole, Antonelli survived a tricky getaway as he locked up into the first corner. This allowed Charles Leclerc to take the lead, while Antonelli had to take further avoiding action as Max Verstappen spun and dropped to 10th place as a result.
The lead changed hands several times throughout the course of the race, with Leclerc, Antonelli, Norris, Piastri and Verstappen all slotting into P1 at some point. Antonelli ultimately emerged on top after wheel-to-wheel battles with both, Leclerc and Norris.
“My start wasn’t as bad as in the Sprint, but we still lost a position. I then lost a place to Lando (Norris) before the Safety Car, but we were able to fight back. Our pace was strong, I was able to stay close, and then the team did a brilliant job with the strategy,” said Antonelli.
“Despite our great start to the season, we are not getting ahead of ourselves. This is just the beginning of the season and there is a long year ahead. We are working super hard and the team is doing an incredible job at the moment,” he added.
Double McLaren podium with Norris P2, Piastri P3
McLaren pitted Norris one lap after Antonelli, and he re-joined the track just behind the Mercedes driver. The reigning world champion had to ultimately settle for second place, 3.264 sec behind Antonelli. Piastri, meanwhile, passed Leclerc in the closing laps to hand McLaren a double podium finish.
McLaren brought a host of updates to Miami, and speaking after the race, team principal Andrea Stella said these upgrades “performed exactly as we had hoped”.
“We shouldn’t forget where we started from this season: to have a weekend with a Sprint Quali Pole position, a Sprint Race 1-2 and a double podium today fighting for the victory until the last few laps shows the incredible progress we are making together as a team. This outcome doesn't change our positive momentum; it reinforces it,” Stella added.
Leclerc, Verstappen hit with penalties
Leclerc limped to the finish line in fifth place after spinning and touching the wall on the last lap. However, he dropped to P8 after being handed a 20-second time penalty for driving his car in an unsafe condition. Stewards noted that he had left the track “on several occasions with a justifiable reason”.
Verstappen was also handed a five-second time penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit. He would have dropped from P5 to P6 as a result, but benefitted from Leclerc’s penalty and held on to fifth place ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Franco Colapinto secured a strong P7 finish for Alpine. Williams had both of its drivers finish in the points, with Carlos Sainz P9 and Alex Albon P10.
2026 F1 championship standings
Antonelli has now extended his championship lead to 20 points from his Mercedes teammate Russell. Leclerc is third overall, 21 points behind Russell and 41 points behind Antonelli.
Next up on the F1 calendar is the Canadian GP on May 22-25, with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve hosting yet another sprint round.
