Antonelli Extends Title Lead with Victory at 2026 Miami GP

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli extended his title lead with victory at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix. 

Antonelli made his race-winning move on Lap 29 with an overtake on then-leader Max Verstappen after he had undercut Lando Norris a lap earlier, but the Brit followed him through but couldn’t pass the Italian for victory.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished third ahead of George Russell, Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, as Lewis Hamilton, Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz and Albon completed the top ten.

Leclerc post-race was demoted to eighth through a 20-second time penalty after he drove his car in an unsafe condition on the final lap and cut corners, following a spin at Turn 3.

In the drivers’ standings, Antonelli extended his title lead over Russell to 20 points.

At lights out after having been brought forward three hours due to severe weather forecasts, Antonelli and Verstappen got level getaways but both braked too deep into the opening corner under pressure from Leclerc, who swept through into the lead as Verstappen suffered a slide through Turn 2 to slip down the order.

Antonelli consequently recovered to second ahead of Norris and Piastri, but Piastri lost fourth to Russell into Turn 1 on Lap 3.

Norris meanwhile sat back in third as Antonelli passed Leclerc into Turn 17 on Lap 4 for the lead, only for Leclerc on the next lap to sweep round the outside of Turn 11 to retake the lead.

Further back on that same lap, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar clipped the inside barrier at Turn 14 which broke his front-left suspension, and sent him head on into the barrier through the chicane.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly meanwhile got flipped into a barrier roll round the outside of Turn 17 by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who retired with damage shortly afterwards as the safety car was deployed, but not before Norris cleared Antonelli for second.

A post-race investigation however cleared Lawson of any fault because his car suffered a gearbox failure under braking, which meant that no disciplinary action was taken.

Racing resumed on Lap 12 as Leclerc led Norris and Antonelli but Russell lost fourth to Piastri yet clung onto fifth from Hamilton.

Up front, Norris passed Leclerc round the outside of Turn 11 on Lap 13 for the lead and left the Monegasque to fend off Antonelli who passed him into Turn 17, only to be repassed a few corners later but he retook second into Turn 11 by the end of Lap 14.

Verstappen meanwhile pitted under the safety car but managed to recover to fifth by Lap 24 as other drivers pitted, during which Russell jumped Leclerc after the latter suffered a slow stop when he pitted on Lap 22.

Up front, Antonelli pitted on Lap 27 whilst Norris followed suit a lap later in a move which saw the Italian undercut the reigning champion on Norris’ outlap, as they battled Verstappen ahead of Piastri’s pit stop on Lap 29 from the lead.

Verstappen though couldn’t cling onto the lead that lap once Piastri pitted as Antonelli cleared him into Turn 11, before Norris cleared him on the inside of Turns 17 and 18 but the four-time champion quickly settled into third.

Antonelli eventually settled into a comfortable rhythm to keep Norris at bay to become only the third driver to achieve his first three victories in successive Grands Prix after Damon Hill and Mika Haikkenen, and the first driver to achieve that feat from his first three Grand Prix poles.

Verstappen couldn’t hold onto third on his worn tyres as he lost position to Leclerc on Lap 47 into Turn 11, before Piastri demoted him to fifth at Turn 17 on Lap 48, before he eventually lost that position to Russell.

Leclerc however struggled to manage his tyres and was passed by Piastri before he spun through Turn 2 on the final lap which cost him momentum, and allowed Russell and Verstappen to demote him to sixth at the checkered flag.

Leclerc however fell to eighth in the classification following a post-race time penalty converted from a drive-through equivalent penalty, after stewards considered him to have had drove his car in an unsafe condition which caused him to cut multiple corners and gained a lasting advantage as a consequence.

F1 now takes a three-week break before they head north across the US border into Canada for the Canadian GP from 22-24 May.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	57	1h 33m 19.273
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	57	+ 3.264
3	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	57	+ 27.092
4	George Russell	Mercedes	57	+ 43.051
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	57	+ 48.949
6	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	57	+ 53.753
7	Franco Colapinto	Ferrari	57	+ 61.871
8	Charles Leclerc	Alpine	57	+ 64.245
9	Carlos Sainz	Williams	57	+ 82.072
10	Alex Albon	Williams	57	+ 90.972
11	Oliver Bearman	Haas	56	+ 1 Lap
12	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	56	+ 1 Lap
13	Esteban Ocon	Haas	56	+ 1 Lap
14	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	56	+ 1 Lap
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	56	+ 1 Lap
16	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	56	+ 1 Lap
17	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	56	+ 1 Lap
18	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	56	+ 2 Laps
RET	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	7	Mechanical
RET	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	7	Damage
RET	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	4	Collision
RET	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	4	Crash