Kimi Antonelli has underlined his title credentials by taking his third consecutive race win of 2026 on the Miami Grand Prix, popping out on prime of a duel with reigning Components 1 world champion Lando Norris.
Antonelli held off Norris after a dry race on the Miami Worldwide Autodrome, with Oscar Piastri finishing the rostrum for McLaren after a late-race fade by Charles Leclerc which was capped by a spin on the ultimate lap, permitting George Russell into fourth and Max Verstappen to take sixth forward of the Monegasque.
The race began three hours sooner than deliberate as organisers tried to discover a window to get the 57-lap contest in amid the fixed risk of rain and thunderstorms, with the skies opening up on Sunday morning and extra downpours anticipated in the course of the afternoon.
However regardless of the looming prospect of rain, the race began in dry situations, with nearly all of the sector setting off on medium tyres. At a chaotic begin, polesitter Antonelli suffered one other poor getaway, permitting Pink Bull’s Verstappen and Ferrari’s Leclerc to instantly draw alongside as they hurtled in the direction of Flip 1.
Antonelli locked up and went off, whereas Leclerc took a cautious line into the nook that netted him the lead. Behind him Verstappen spun off on the exit, with the Dutchman quickly pointing his Pink Bull in the correct path once more. In doing so, Verstappen was fortunate to not be collected by the chasing pack, however he did drop all the way down to tenth battling the Williams drivers.
That allowed McLaren duo Norris and Piastri by to assert third and fourth, forward of Russell and Hamilton, with the latter surviving contact with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
On lap 4 Antonelli handed Leclerc for the lead, with Leclerc returning the favour on the next lap whereas Norris additionally adopted the Ferrari driver by into second.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Photographs through Getty Photographs
The race was neutralised after simply 5 laps as a result of two separate incidents. In a spectacular-looking accident, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was flipped right into a low-speed barrel roll after being clipped by Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson on the Flip 17 hairpin, the Frenchman ending up midway up the barrier however escaping unharmed. Lawson additionally retired with terminal injury.
In the meantime, Pink Bull’s Isack Hadjar crashed on the chicane whereas working his approach up the order, the Frenchman having been demoted to a pitlane begin as a result of a technical breach. Making an unforced error, Hadjar tagged the within wall at Flip 14 which sheared off the front-left suspension and despatched his unguided RB22 into the obstacles at low velocity.
After the lap 12 restart Norris snatched the lead away from Leclerc forward of Antonelli, adopted by a duelling Piastri and Russell. Verstappen had been the one frontrunner to pit for hards below the protection automobile, which initially dropped him all the way down to sixteenth. However because the anticipated rain did not materialise and the frontrunners additionally picked up onerous tyres across the midway level, Verstappen emerged right into a web, if short-lived lead.
On a lot brisker tyres, Antonelli and Norris had been each swiftly in a position to repass the Dutchman as he misplaced contact with the leaders, whereas Leclerc was fourth as Piastri handed Russell for fifth. Hamilton misplaced out after a slower pitstop, which demoted him to seventh and final of the frontrunners, whereas the Briton additionally appeared to nurse a broken Ferrari after his early contact with Colapinto.
With no rain forthcoming, the race became a straight-forward one-stopper, and a duel between Antonelli and Norris as Verstappen struggled to maintain up. On stability, Norris and Antonelli look intently matched for big spells of the second stint, however Norris struggled to discover a well beyond in Antonelli’s soiled air, making an attempt to bide his time as an alternative as rear tyre administration got here into play.
However Antonelli managed to outlive downshift points and grasp on to take his third consecutive win from pole, increasing his world championship lead on Russel to twenty factors.
Rafael Nadal waves the checkered flag for Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Picture by: Rebecca Blackwell / POOL / AFP through Getty Photographs
On worn Pirelli rubber Verstappen fell into the clutches of the chasing group of Leclerc, Piastri and Russell within the ultimate 10 laps of the race. True to kind Verstappen did not go down and not using a combat, clinging on to 3rd across the outdoors of Leclerc, however he was powerless to carry off the Ferrari for for much longer, and each Piastri and Russell additionally labored their well beyond.
Leclerc appeared destined to take the ultimate podium spot, however spun on the ultimate lap, tapping the wall however miraculously avoiding tougher contact. Piastri sailed by to take third 27 seconds behind Antonelli, whereas Russell muscled his approach to fourth forward of Verstappen and Leclerc.
Hamilton completed a lonely seventh, with Colapinto eighth after a robust weekend efficiency, the Argentine operating as excessive as fourth after delaying his first cease till lap 32.
Within the background Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon defeated the Haas drivers to take an encouraging double factors end in ninth and tenth for the underperforming Williams outfit, being the final two automobiles ending on the lead lap.
F1 heads to Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve subsequent for the Canadian Grand Prix on 22-24 Could.
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