Formula 1’s dramatic return from a five-week hiatus delivered everything the sport had been missing — and more.
Fans have been starved for Formula 1 action, so the anticipation was quite high when the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix finally rolled around. Global conflict forced the cancellation of the previous two events scheduled in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and race teams were eager to get back on the track. The last event held was in Japan at the end of March, and this was something of a season “relaunch.”
Fortunately, the race delivered and then some.
F1 Miami Had It All
The season has been a wild ride thus far, and has not played out in accordance with expectations, to say the least. On race day in Miami, with thunderstorms in the forecast, race organizers adjusted, moving the start time up three hours. This put the squeeze on the schedule and brought up the tension before a single wheel had spun.
The Starting Lights
At the start of the race, Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) had pole position for the third grand prix in a row – a very impressive accomplishment for the 19-year-old Italian driver. Next to him in the front row was Max Verstappen. His Red Bull team was looking upgraded and had shown better pace than earlier in the season. Behind them, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and sprint-race winner Lando Norris (McLaren) held down the second row.
When the lights went out, things got crazy in a hurry. Antonelli locked up in Turn 1, Verstappen touched Leclerc while also locking up himself, and the four-time world champion made a full spin. Fortunately, he managed to avoid any more contact as the front of the field shot past him.
Leclerc got through the chaos and took the lead. Further back, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine) collided on Turn 11, with car body pieces flying into the air. Crashes for Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – who was flipped upside down after contact with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson at Turn 17 – Lawson later cleared by stewards after a gearbox failure was confirmed as the cause. The field was reset, and this gave Verstappen a route back into contention after his early tumble.
Later Stages
From there, the race unfolded in dynamic fashion. The lead swapped numerous times, with Antonelli, Norris, Piastri (McLaren), Verstappen, and Leclerc all taking turns leading the pack. Norris demonstrated that McLaren’s upgraded car was a solid threat for the top spot, leading for a stint and shadowing Antonelli in the final laps. Antonelli held firm, racing in a composed, controlling manner and crossed the finish line first. He was followed by Norris and then Piastri. It was Antonelli’s third consecutive victory and pole-to-win, making him the first driver in history to win his first three grands prix from pole position.
The final lap had one last twist. Leclerc was battling to stay ahead of Russell and Verstappen, but he spun and contacted the wall, landing in sixth. Russell took fourth, and Verstappen crossed the line fifth.
Post-race, the paddock hosted significant regulatory proceedings from the stewards. Russell was under investigation for separate collisions with both Leclerc and Verstappen, but the stewards took no further action on either incident. Verstappen received a small five-second penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit. It wasn’t enough to drop him from fifth. Leclerc took a real hit, though. The stewards handed him a drive-through penalty for repeatedly leaving the track and gaining an advantage, converted to a 20-second time addition post-race. Leclerc was ultimately put in eighth. Ferrari looked like they might score points during the race, but afterward, their hopes were dashed.
Red Bull Struggles
Many fans were focused on Red Bull heading into race day. After a troubled start to the 2026 season, people observed that Red Bull was struggling to adapt to new regulations. In Florida, Max Verstappen said that revisions by the team had “halved the gap” to the leaders. On the track, this seemed to be true. Verstappen qualified in second, which was his best qualifyingthis season. His car ran competitively throughout the race and nearly made the podium. Thus, there’s reason to hope that the season will improve from here for his team.
His teammate, Isack Hadjar, was not as lucky. The 21-year-old Frenchman qualified ninth, but a post-session inspection noted that a small detail was not up to code. FIA inspectors discovered that the floorboards on his RB22 were two millimeters beyond the legally permitted reference volume on both sides (this breaches Article C3.5.5 of the F1 Technical Regulations, for those keeping score). The stewards made it official Sunday morning: Hadjar was disqualified. Red Bull then changed its power unit under parc fermé conditions. This put him off the grid and into the pit lane for his start. He retired from the race shortly after, ending what had already been a difficult weekend for the team.
Team principal Laurent Mekies issued an apology: “We made a mistake, and we respect the decision of the Stewards… No performance advantage was intended nor gained from this error. As a team, we apologise to Isack and to our fans and partners. We learn the hard way today, but we will move forward.” The team is moving ahead, but the struggles have put a real damper on the season thus far.
Championship Standings: Mercedes in Control
Four rounds into a 22-race season, the picture at the top is growing clearer. For the moment, it’s painted in Mercedes silver. Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ championship with 100 points. His teammate George Russell is in second with 80 points, making it a Mercedes sweep at the top of the standings.
Charles Leclerc, held back by his penalties, is third in the championship standings, but now trails Antonelli by a significant margin at 63. Lando Norris (51) and Oscar Piastri (43) continue to stack up points for McLaren, with both finishing on the podium in Miami.
In the constructors’ championship, the gap is pretty wide. Mercedes leads with 180 points. Ferrari, despite having Leclerc in third overall, is in second with 112 points. McLaren sits in third with 94 as Norris and Piastri try to chip away at the leaders.
Surprises
Perhaps the most surprising development of the weekend came from a McLaren slowdown. Norris took the sprint pole and won the sprint race convincingly on Saturday, then qualified noticeably slower than he was hours earlier. His team will want to analyze any issues as F1 teams head into Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, May 22–24 at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.
Ferrari will also want to tighten up. Leclerc’s chaotic finale cost the team in both points and optics. They can and should be reaching the podium, and will likely want to see what they can address to earn the results they are capable of. Car handling, decision making… whatever it is, Ferrari can easily make waves if it can iron out the kinks.
Additionally, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has suggested the possibility of bringing back one of the cancelled races later in the season. Logistics and team concerns make this challenging, so fans will have to stay tuned for more info on whether the Middle Eastern races will be restored.
Revised Predictions for the Season Ahead
At the start of the season, much talk was centered on Lando Norris defending his 2025 world title for McLaren. Four races in, that story has been pretty much rewritten.
- Kimi Antonelli is exceptional and looks nothing like a typical sophomore racer. With three wins, three poles, and remarkable consistency under pressure, he’s quickly become the championship favorite. Of course, we’re only four races in, but if Mercedes can keep this up, they’ll get an incredible result at the end of the season. 18 rounds will test the team’s ability to continue dominating the competition.
- George Russell is accumulating points quickly, but cannot find a way past Antonelli. His fourth place in Miami and the sprint result keep him close. Likely, he will need Antonelli to falter if he is going to move ahead.
- McLaren remains the most likely challenger to Mercedes. Norris will have to convert pace into victories to get the job done. He has the speed, but strategic execution must be sharpened.
- Ferrari is suffering from some self-inflicted wounds. The raw pace is there, but the team needs clean performances to reach the podium.
- Red Bull is the wildcard. Verstappen had a nice qualifying pace in Miami, and so Red Bull could reassert itself as a race-winning operation by the European swing.
Next up is a race in Canada. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a power-sensitive track, which will test the 2026 power unit hierarchy more directly than Miami’s flowing Autodrome. For now, though, Formula 1 leaves Florida with some good storylines. The championship leader is even more dominant, and people will hardly be able to resist the excitement that surrounds the buzz of the emergence of the sport’s next great champion. It’s far too soon to tell, but the air coming from the Mercedes pit is absolutely electric.
