Scott Gulbransen
Sunday at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix was the race Formula 1 had been promising all year. Real wheel-to-wheel action with the drama and competitiveness F1 fans expect. A spinning Red Bull on the opening lap, multiple lead changes and a teenager, Kimi Antonelli, holding off a defending world champion to set yet another record. Yes, the regulations changes made things better, but some still took advantage, and some teams are still finding their way.
Here’s who took something home from Florida and who didn’t.
Winner: Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes
Three poles to start a career. Three wins to start a career. Nobody’s done it before. Antonelli is doing it now.
Miami wasn’t a completely clean race for the kid, as Leclerc beat him to Turn 1, Verstappen tried to bully through and ended up backward, and Antonelli had to take the run-off just to keep his nose intact. He got back to the front anyway. He masterfully undercut Norris in the pit window, nursed a gearbox concern over the closing laps, and won by 3.264 seconds.
“This is just the beginning; the road is still long,” Antonelli said after the race. “But we’re working super hard, the team is doing an incredible job.”
He leads Mercedes teammate George Russell by 20 points in the driver’s championship standings and refuses to blink. Antonelli continues to be the story of 2026 and, until he’s not, he will dominate the cicruit and the headlines.
Winner: McLaren | Norris and Piastri Both on Podium
McLaren notched their first double podium of the year and it clearly showed the team’s upgrade package worked.
Reigning champion Lando Norris ran Antonelli down late and sat on his gearbox for the closing laps without finding a way through. Norris nabbed P2 with no excuses and teammate Oscar Piastri fought Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc straight up for third and got it. After a rough opening trio of races, this was the result the pace had been hinting at all season.
Winner: Max Verstappen | Red Bull
While Max Verstappen may be a strange one to put here, given that he spun on the opening lap, the Red Bull is a real car again. Verstappen qualified on the front row and showed for the first time all year that he had genuine pace. Verstappen even clawed back to fifth after the spin before a five-second penalty for a pit-exit infringement.
That’s the most competitive Red Bull has looked all year. Verstappen will take that into Canada and hope he can build on it to grab a podium in the land of poutine.
Winner: F1 Fans | Best Race of 2026
The new regulations were supposed to ruin the racing. People who watched Sunday will remember it differently. Wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1, lead changes throughout, drivers actually fighting instead of trundling around in DRS trains. Whatever the FIA cooked up, it’s working.
Loser: Charles Leclerc | Ferrari
Charles Leclerc exploded on the start and led the opening laps of the 2026 Miami Grand Prix, but that would be the highlight of his day. He absolutely looked golden for the podium, even late in the race. Then he spun on the last lap, fighting Piastri, hit the wall, and dropped to sixth at the checkered flag. The stewards added a 20-second penalty for repeatedly leaving the track. This dropped his final standing to 8th, an embarrassing display for him and the entire Scuderia Ferrari team.
Ferrari brought pace. The driver and the team turned it into eight points. That math doesn’t work over 24 races.
Loser: Isack Hadjar | Red Bull
This was an absolutely brutal race for the rookie. DSQ for a technical infringement, then penalized again for parc fermé changes. When he finally hit the circuit, after starting in the pit lane, he crashed out and brought out the Safety Car. Red Bull has a car worth driving now. His weekend never let him drive it. The break before Canada can’t come soon enough.
