Miami Grand Prix Showcases Formula One's New Era

Kimi Antonelli, Miami GP Winner

MIAMI, FLORIDA - After a month-long break, the anticipated Miami Grand Prix weekend had finally arrived. Over the break, teams like Mclaren, Ferrari and Red Bull were hard at work developing their cars to catch up to the dominant Mercedes.

In order for the teams to readjust to the track, Friday’s one and only practice session was extended from the regular 60 minutes to 90 minutes to give the teams and drivers much needed track time to make sure the cars were in perfect set ups for the upcoming sprint qualifying session.

The long break between Japan and Miami gave a “season reboot.” Top field teams, Ferrari, Mclaren, and Red Bull took major advantage of the time, developing their cars and bringing serious upgrade packages to close the gap to Mercedes. The power of these upgrades was fiercely shown during FP, with a driver from each team being at the top of the timing sheets. Charles Leclerc, in a Ferrari that brought 11 upgrades to the grand prix, set a lap time of 1:29.310, 0.769 seconds ahead of Mercedes driver and championship leader Kimi Antonelli. Close behind the lap time of Leclerc, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and Mclaren of Oscar Piastri. FP1 showed Mercedes for them to not be so comfortable, and the other teams were closing the gap on their dominance.

Sprint qualifying proved to be even more unsettling to the silver arrows, as their undefeated pole streak was disrupted by the reigning world champion, Lando Norris. Norris set a precisely executed lap time of 1:27.869, while Antonelli set a lap time of 1:28.091. Closing out the top three of sprint qualifying, the Mclaren of Oscar Piastri, with a lap time of 1:28.108. Threatening the top three qualifiers, Charles Leclerc, 1:28.239.  The upgrades brought by the other teams were strongly working. Ferrari and Mclaren came to Miami ready for war against the silver arrows.

Saturday’s sprint race was nothing short of a statement from Mclaren and Ferrari to Mercedes. The pole to win streak continued as Lando Norris converted his pole position into the first win of the season for the reigning world champion. Mclaren claimed a stunning 1-2 finish with Oscar Piastri claiming p2. Finishing the statement, the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc came in 3^rd.  After the sprint race there were things that suddenly became extremely clear. Mclaren showed up with serious race pace. Mercedes still had an incredible raw speed. Ferrari was still a dangerous threat. While the focus is mainly concentrated on the top runners, the midfield had plenty going on as well during the sprint race. Unfortunately, the Audi of Nico Hulkenburg was unable to make it to the starting grid for the race as its brakes caught fire during the warmup laps to set the grid into place.

Alpine showed to be one of the strongest midfield teams. Pierre Gasly placed p8, claiming the last point scoring position of the sprint race. His teammate, Franco Colapinto barely missed out on scoring points but showed strong pace throughout the race.

With a sprint weekend, the Saturday events don’t end with the exhilarating sprint race. There was still a pole position to be claimed for Sunday’s race. While the results from friday and earlier in the day Saturday seemed to be leaning in favor of another Mclaren or a first Ferrari pole of the season, 19-year-old Mercedes driver, Kimi Antonelli had a much different agenda. The young driver pulled off a pole position that stunned everyone, narrowly beating Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. Antonelli placed an impressive lap time of 1:27.798, just shyly beating Verstappen’s time of 1:27.964. There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere as everyone watched the young Italian driver evolve from a promising rookie to a real future champion in only his second season of Formula One.

 For the midfield, it was an extremely close qualifying. The gaps between Hulkenberg, Lawson, Bearman, Sainz, Ocon and Albon were all separated by mere fractions of a second around the q2 cut off. While most of the midfield was close together, teams like Aston Martin, and new team Cadillac, found themselves at the back of the starting grid again. The pace of the Aston Martins was painfully slow, even during Friday’s FP1 as drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stoll struggle to find the balance and pace with the new Honda power units. The case of the new team, Cadillac, while they did bring a handful of upgrades to their first home race of the season, they still struggle to find their pace and confidence on track.

Sunday’s race proved to be as chaotic as all the previous Miami Grand Prixs. For the safety of drivers and fans, the FIA decided to move the race to take place earlier in the day due to the predicted heavy rain showers set to happen around the original planned race start time. When it was time for the five red lights to go out, Antonelli held the lead of the race while Norris and Leclerc immediately went for the aggressive attack. On the race start, the midfield erupted with chaos, bringing out the safety car due to contact between the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and VCARB of Liam Lawson which resulted in both drivers retiring from the race. The pressure stayed on the young Italian from the reigning world champion following the race restart. While the pressure never faded away, Antonelli never cracked even though Norris stayed within striking distance for most of the race. Nothing fazed the young driver. At the end of the race, the podium seemed solidified. Antonelli to win it all for the third time with Norris to fall in second and Leclerc to take third. That was until it all came apart for Leclerc, suffering a last lap spin which dropped him down to 6^th position. The race ended with the young Italian continuing his winning streak and Mclaren benefiting by scoring their first double podium of the season. While the celebrations were starting, the unfortunate heartbreak wasn’t quite over for Charles Leclerc. He was given an 20 second penalty for leaving the track on multiple occasions without a justifiable reason. This demoted him to 8^th position. Leclerc was not the only driver to receive a penalty. Max Verstappen received a 5 second penalty for crossing the line at pit exit. Verstappen was fortunate to keep his 5^thposition due to Leclerc being given the penalty first.

 In the midfield, there were things proved. Alpine showed to be one of the top midfield teams, Franco Colapinto, the only Alpine remaining on track after the lap one contact, built his race on confidence and aggression, which resulted in claiming 7^th position at the checkered flag. After an extremely difficult weekend for Williams, still racing with an incredibly overweight chasis despite the upgrades, walked away with a small number of points, placing 9^th and 10^th. It proved that even though the upgrades were small, it still felt like a massive reward for the team. While two midfield teams walked away with small amounts of glory, others walked away with lessons and defeat. The Haas team showed to be combative and strong but unfortunately the Miami heat proved to be the biggest opponent for the team. VCARB driver Arvid Linblad never seemed to recover from his race start. Cadillac took it as a learning process. At times, drivers Checo Perez and Valterri Bottas seemed to have race pace but unfortunately it wasn’t consistent.

The Miami Grand Prix was set to be the 6^th round of the 2026 season which quickly turned into the 4^th round due to the middle east conflict. With the new regulations, there is still much more to be learned about these new Formula One cars. With the chaos erupted during the Grand Prix with crashes and spins, most of the upgrades brought by the teams have yet to show their full potential. Teams like Mclaren are rumored to bring an essentially brand-new car to the Canadian Grand Prix. If there’s anything to be learned from the Miami Grand Prix is that Mclaren and Ferrari still pose a major threat for the constructors' championship against the dominant Mercedes. Mercedes made the right choice by signing Kimi Antonelli to be the one to replace the 7-time world champion, doing exactly what Lewis did in his second season with the silver arrows. The midfield teams are still leaning, just as the top runners are.

With another large gap between the Miami and Canadian Grand Prix, nothing can be easily predicted. Both championships are still up for grabs.  

Written by Natalie