Antonelli wins thrilling Miami Grand Prix from Norris and Piastri

Kimi Antonelli has taken victory in an action-packed Miami Grand Prix, the Italian resisting pressure from Lando Norris to seal his third consecutive win of the season.

A dramatic start ensued when the race got underway, with polesitter Antonelli facing a three-way scrap alongside Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc before both the Mercedes and Red Bull cars locked up into the first corner. Verstappen then made contact with Leclerc, sending the Dutchman into a 360-degree spin which dropped him down the order.

The lead changed hands numerous times from there, with Antonelli later overtaking Leclerc while Norris, Oscar Piastri and Verstappen all enjoyed stints at the front. Separate crashes for Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, saw the Safety Car deployed in the opening laps.

But it would ultimately prove to be a two-horse battle between Antonelli and Norris as the race wore on, the McLaren remaining on the tail of the former during the latter stages. Despite that tension, Antonelli held on to score his third victory of the campaign, making history as the first driver to convert their maiden three pole positions into wins.

Norris crossed the line 3.264s back in P2, while Piastri snatched the final spot on the podium from Leclerc during a chaotic final two laps. Leclerc subsequently spun and managed to keep on going, but the Ferrari man was overtaken by Mercedes’ George Russell for fourth while Verstappen – who will be investigated after the race for crossing the line at the pit exit – grabbed fifth from Leclerc at the line.

Lewis Hamilton claimed seventh in a quieter outing for the sister Ferrari, while Franco Colapinto scored some valuable points for Alpine in eighth. There was also a good return for Williams, with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon completing the top 10.

Haas’ Ollie Bearman just missed out in P11, as did Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto in P12 and the other Haas of Esteban Ocon in P13.

Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad followed in 14th, while the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were 15th and 17th respectively, the Cadillac duo of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas sandwiched between in 16th and 18th.

Hadjar and Gasly were two of the four retirees following their earlier crashes, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson bringing his car into the pits following contact with Gasly while Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg also pitted to retire his car.

More to follow

AS IT HAPPENED

Following an action-packed build-up featuring the second Sprint of the campaign on Saturday, the attentions of the paddock shifted to Sunday’s 57-lap Miami Grand Prix, the fourth round of the 2026 season.

Due to heavy rainstorms being forecast for later on Sunday, it was confirmed ahead of the event that the race would start three hours earlier than originally planned. While rain had already fallen on Sunday morning, the showers had abated as the new start time neared – albeit with some clouds still lingering in the sky.

Antonelli would line up in pole position for a third consecutive Grand Prix, the Italian having put together an impressive performance in Qualifying – bouncing back from a tricky Sprint just hours earlier – to seal the P1 slot ahead of the resurgent Red Bull of Verstappen.

Things had not gone so well for Verstappen’s team mate Hadjar, however, who was disqualified from Qualifying for a technical infringement before also being penalised for changes made to his car under parc ferme conditions – meaning that he would start the race from the pit lane.

As the cars lined up to take the start and the tyre blankets were removed, it was revealed that the entire field would start on the medium compound bar Hadjar on hards. The expected strategy for most would be a one-stop in dry conditions – but with the risk of rain during the race standing at 40 per cent, question marks remained over whether the intermediate or full wet tyres might potentially come into play later on.

After the formation lap had been completed and the five lights went out, Antonelli found himself with Verstappen and a fast-launching Leclerc on each side of his Mercedes. While the Italian locked up into the first corner, Verstappen – who also suffered a lock-up – made contact with Leclerc and spun around 360 degrees, narrowly avoiding any further incidents as the pack steamed around him.

This all put Leclerc into the lead ahead of Antonelli and the McLarens of Norris and Piastri, while further back Hamilton collided with Colapinto at Turn 11, resulting in some pieces of bodywork flying off. The incident was noted by the stewards.

By Lap 3, Russell had picked off Piastri for fourth place, while Verstappen was trying to climb his way back through the order, having worked his way up to eighth. Meanwhile Antonelli was making moves one lap later, surging ahead of Leclerc into Turn 17 to take the lead.

However, on the next tour Leclerc found his way back in front of the Silver Arrows machine – while team mate Hamilton was losing time due to seemingly picking up damage in that incident with Colapinto, on which the stewards had since decided that no further action was necessary.

Just as Norris picked off Antonelli for second place, Hadjar found himself out of the race after hitting the wall at Turn 14, the Frenchman seen slamming the steering wheel in frustration – and just moments later in a separate incident, Gasly had also gone into the barriers, his Alpine having flipped over following contact with the Racing Bulls of Lawson.

The Safety Car was deployed as the two stricken cars were cleared, while Lawson – whose collision with Gasly would be investigated after the race – headed into the pits to retire his car. Hulkenberg had also brought his Audi into the garage, meaning that four drivers were now out of the Grand Prix.

Elsewhere Verstappen had opted to pit during the Safety Car phase for the hard tyres, dropping him down to P16 – while some of the drivers were being warned that some rain was potentially on the way in around 20 minutes’ time.

It was confirmed on Lap 11 that the Safety Car phase was ending, with all eyes on Leclerc at the front of the pack. The Monegasque executed a good restart as the action resumed, while Piastri made his way past Russell into P4 – with the Australian left annoyed by the Mercedes driver’s actions during their battle, reporting: “That was super dangerous by Russell.”

Shortly afterwards it was all happening at the front as Norris snatched the lead from Leclerc, leaving the Ferrari driver to have to defend against Antonelli. The Italian managed to take the position, only for Leclerc to steal it back – but Antonelli subsequently retook it, albeit with Leclerc remaining close on his tail.

Russell radioed in to report that he was on the “wrong strat mode”, while further back Verstappen had made his way up to P11. In not such good news for the Dutchman, he had also been noted by the stewards for crossing the line at the pit exit.

It seemed to be a busy afternoon for the stewards, who also noted Ocon, Albon and Alonso for yellow flag infringements. Up ahead, Piastri was scrapping with Leclerc over P3, while Norris was continuing to extend his lead over Antonelli as he stretched the gap to 2.5s by Lap 18.

The drivers were warned again of a shower coming in a few laps’ time, while the stewards confirmed that Verstappen’s pit lane exit incident would be investigated after the race. It was also announced that an incident between the Red Bull driver and Albon had been noted.

Russell dived into the pits on Lap 21 for a set of hard tyres, bringing him back out into P12 – and shortly afterwards Ferrari seemingly responded as Leclerc then pitted. It was a slow stop for the Monegasque of 3.7s, resulting in him returning to the track behind Russell.

“Why did we stop? When is the rain?” Leclerc asked his team, while Piastri was informed that an approaching shower might particularly affect Turns 7 and 8 and “could get heavy”. Meanwhile Norris continued to lead from Antonelli as Lap 25 ticked down.

Leclerc remained vocal on the radio as he tried to work his way up from P9, stating: “Next time you make a big decision, speak with me first.” Meanwhile drivers including Antonelli and Colapinto were reporting rain on the track, though this looked to be very light.

It was Antonelli’s turn to pit on Lap 27, the championship leader emerging in fifth on hard tyres behind Verstappen and Hamilton, the Dutchman having just taken a position from his former title rival. Norris then pitted one tour later to return to the track in third – bringing him out just behind Antonelli.

When Piastri subsequently pitted from the lead – reemerging in seventh ahead of Hamilton – Verstappen was now in P1 ahead of Antonelli and Norris, only for Antonelli to make a move on Lap 29 before Norris then followed through moments later.

There was some tough news for Cadillac on the team’s debut home race when Bottas was handed a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Meanwhile Leclerc was tussling with Russell for P5, the Ferrari ultimately finding a way through.

Antonelli reported a possible issue with his gearbox on Lap 34, with Norris making ground on the Italian whose lead now stood at 1.4s. Meanwhile another Mercedes vs McLaren scrap was playing out between Russell and Piastri, the latter snatching P5 into the first corner.

After some back and forth that saw the Briton retake the place, Piastri again put himself ahead, while Norris had closed the gap to Antonelli down to under a second, the latter reporting struggles with his rear tyres.

By Lap 40, Antonelli was now 0.9s ahead of Norris, with Verstappen some 12 seconds down the road in third while Leclerc held a lonely fourth. Piastri and Russell remained in fifth and sixth respectively, ahead of Hamilton, Colapinto, Sainz and Albon.

With his early stop meaning that his tyres were now over 35 laps old, Verstappen remained at risk of being caught by the likes of Leclerc, Piastri and Russell during the remainder of the race. But Russell also seemed to be facing some challenges on his 22-lap-old tyres, reporting that he was “sliding everywhere”.

Leclerc had cut the gap to Verstappen down to less than a second by Lap 46, while Antonelli was informed that he had received a second strike for track limits. One tour later, Leclerc grabbed P3 from Verstappen into Turn 1 – and although the World Champion initially retook the position, he could not defend against Leclerc a second time.

This had allowed for Piastri to home in on Verstappen, the Australian eventually sweeping through on Lap 49. Meanwhile Antonelli was holding steady at the front, two seconds ahead of Norris as the final laps ticked down – but could he hold on until the chequered flag?

Reports came in of some light drops of rain as the race entered into its last five tours, with any heavy showers fortunately not on the forecast until after the Grand Prix had ended. The action was not over, though, as Russell was the next to close in on Verstappen in the fight for P5.

“I think he hit my tyre,” Verstappen radioed in, with Russell appearing to be carrying damage to his front wing. Elsewhere Piastri was now only half a second back from Leclerc, the McLaren piling the pressure on in a battle for the final spot on the rostrum.

Piastri had soon picked off Leclerc for third, while there was further drama when the Monegasque spun and tapped the wall. The Ferrari was able to continue on, but soon had Russell and Verstappen – the former having overtaken despite his damage – on his tail.

With Norris being told to cool off due to a wing problem, Antonelli had stretched his lead out further and crossed the line with a margin of 3.264s to seal a third consecutive win, bringing his championship lead up to 20 points.

The McLarens of Norris and Piastri had sealed their places on the podium, but the fight for fourth was not over, with Russell snatching the position from a struggling Leclerc while Verstappen also overtook the Ferrari at the line for fifth.

However, these drivers would all face visits to the stewards after the race: Russell for separate collisions with Leclerc and Verstappen; Verstappen for that Russell incident as well as earlier crossing the line at the pit exit; and Leclerc for his Russell collision as well as leaving the track multiple times and gaining an advantage, and driving in an unsafe condition.

Behind them, Hamilton, Colapinto, Sainz and Albon rounded out the points-scoring positions, ahead of Bearman, Bortoleto, Ocon, Lindblad, Alonso, Perez, Stroll and Bottas, with Hadjar, Gasly, Lawson and Hulkenberg the day’s four retirements.

Key quote

"The start was not as bad as yesterday – it was a little bit better," said Antonelli. "I didn’t expect Charles to brake that early, so to avoid him I locked up. I was a bit lucky with what happened in Turn 2. I did a little mistake with the energy management, trying to overtake Charles, then I lost a place to Lando. But then the pace was strong, I was able to stay close, and then the team did a great strategy. We did a massive undercut, and we managed to bring it home, even though it was not easy."

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