Kimi Antonelli Now has an F1 Hat-Trick

It means Antonelli has extended his lead in the embryonic title race to 20 points.

“Obviously we're living a good moment,” said Antonelli, while remaining understandably cautious. “But as I said before, it's still a very long season and there's so many things that can change.”

The runner-up spot marked Norris’ first grand prix podium since clinching the 2025 title in Abu Dhabi, following on from his Sprint Race win on Saturday, but he conceded to split feelings due to the win chance.

“We leave Miami with mixed feelings,” Norris said. “As a team, we should be proud: two cars on the podium, a big points haul, and a clear step forward that put us in a genuine fight for the win. I felt I drove very well all weekend and extracted everything from the car. Credit to Kimi, he managed a strong race and Mercedes clearly still have an edge. At the same time, it hurts because a win was possible.”

Leclerc was demoted to eighth place post-race due to a 20-second time post race.Icon Sportswire - Getty Images

Leclerc’s Last Lap Disaster

Charles Leclerc has had a strong campaign, grabbed the lead at the start once more – profiting from the Ferrari’s fast-starting tendencies – and remained in the podium positions until the final lap. Then it all went terribly pear-shaped. Leclerc had already made two minor errors during the race, running wide at Turn 8 and deep into the final hairpin, but his third transgression had more drastic consequences. Having just been passed by Oscar Piastri in the battle for the final spot on the podium Leclerc lit up the rears through Turn 3 and completed a full 360 spin, though sufficiently kissed the wall to sustain damage to the front-left of the SF-26. Leclerc cut the circuit several times as he struggled with the compromised steering and at the final hairpin was passed by George Russell, before Max Verstappen snuck through on the final kink to the line. A possible third vanished and instead Leclerc classified sixth, only to be demoted to eighth place post-race due to a 20-second time penalty for cutting several corners as he grappled with his damaged machine.

“I’m very disappointed in myself, it’s all on me, it’s a mistake,” said a downbeat Leclerc.

One recipient of Leclerc’s misfortune was Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton, though it was a promotion from only seventh to sixth for the 41-year-old. Hamilton had been off the pace of Leclerc at a circuit where he has never excelled, though his race was compromised from the first lap after contact with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto damaged his floor and sidepod.

"The result could have been worse..." -George RussellHector Vivas - Formula 1 - Getty Images

Russell Has a Troubled Weekend

George Russell could point to external factors for compromised results in China and Japan, but in Miami the Briton was adrift of team-mate Kimi Antonelli on pure performance. Russell has never gelled with the low-grip Miami layout and was down in sixth during the second stint, before climbing up to fourth in the final laps.

“The result could have been worse, it was a tough race, the pace was really, really poor on my side,” Russell said. “I've got some ideas, to be honest. I used the last sort of 20 laps as a bit of a test for myself and try some quite drastic changes with my driving style and some of the differential and brake settings on my car and it did improve things. But I just can't wait for the next races where we're slightly more normal conditions and yeah, no major cause for concern.”

Russell emphasized that he has “enough experience, I’ve been in championships, I know how momentum swings throughout a year and also looking at the championship last year. To be honest, I'm not even considering it. It's just I want to get back onto the top step of the podium. The first three races I had the performance to do that. This weekend I absolutely did not have the performance to do that. So I could be standing here now with three very different results from the previous races and then this just being a bit of a one-off.”

lpine’s Pierre Gasly was tipped into a flip at the final hairpin.Rudy Carezzevoli - Getty Images

A Bad Lap to be French

The fifth lap of the Miami Grand Prix was not a prosperous one for Formula 1’s French contingent, with two of its three representatives finding the wall in separate incidents. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was tipped into a flip at the final hairpin, fortunately at relatively low speed, after contact from Liam Lawson. The Racing Bulls driver had lost fifth gear at a crucial moment as the pair battled, causing the clash, and stewards cleared him of any wrongdoing.

“I was luckily fine, very scary because I was in the air without any control and I came into the wall rear first, didn’t know where I would land, so it wasn’t pleasant,” said a frustrated Gasly. “It’s a big missed opportunity.”

Further back in the field, at almost the same moment, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar clipped the wall entering the cumbersome slow-speed left-right, broke his front-left suspension, and suffered a second contact with the wall. Hadjar had been striving to recover from a pit lane start, which was a consequence of his floor breaching regulations during post-qualifying checks. An irate Hadjar banged the steering wheel several times and was visibly anguished with his error in the immediate aftermath.

“I finally found the limit, so… whole weekend I was very close and under control, but yeah, I made a mistake,” said a rueful Hadjar. “A tough one, breaking the car is pissing me off a lot, and also I think there were easy points considering the car I had, I threw it all away, yep. Honestly a bit of a disaster from both our sides.”

MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2026 - RACE RESULT

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* Provisional results. Note - Leclerc received a 20-second time penalty for leaving the track on multiple occasions without a justifiable reason. Verstappen received a five-second time penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit.