Formula One returned after five weeks away and produced a race of almost absurd drama, with collisions, an early safety car and a final lap of pure bedlam.
The race had been brought forward three hours because of forecast storms, but the weather largely stayed away. The racing supplied the spectacle instead.
Here are the top five storylines from the Miami Grand Prix:
Antonelli and Sinner - Italy's golden Sunday
Kimi Antonelli has now won his first three F1 races from his first three pole positions, a feat no driver in the sport's history has achieved. Miami was the hardest fought of the three, and arguably the most impressive.
Into Turn 1 on the very first lap, Antonelli locked up and skidded wide through the run-off, surrendering the lead to Charles Leclerc and then second place to Lando Norris. It was yet another bad start for the youngster. However, his recovery demonstrated how quickly he is developing. He clawed his way back to the front, managed a gearbox problem mid-race and held off a Norris charge in the final laps to secure another victory.
Interestingly, Antonelli managed another win on the same day men's tennis star Jannik Sinner lifted the Madrid Open trophy. It was the third time this season that the two Italians had won on the same day. In mid-March, Sinner won Indian Wells as Antonelli triumphed in China.
In late March, Sinner took the Miami Open while Antonelli won in Japan. Now, in May, Sinner has added Madrid on the same day Antonelli claimed victory Miami. Italians are excelling at everything except for football.
Antonelli now leads the championship by 20 points over Mercedes teammate George Russell, who had a difficult afternoon and finished fourth. Russell described his car as "just four-wheel sliding everywhere” and must now wrestle with the fact his young teammate is growing stronger and more confident with every race. The rivalry is heating up.
World champion Norris left wanting
McLaren arrived in Miami with what Andrea Stella had described as an entirely new MCL40. Two years ago, a significant upgrade package at this very circuit transformed their season and set them on the path to back-to-back constructors' titles.
They have won in Miami for the past two seasons and on Sunday had every reason to believe a third was within reach, but the timing of the pit stops made the difference.
Norris had been leading by almost two seconds before the stops, only for Antonelli to pit first and use the fresh tyres to cut the margin. McLaren waited another lap, and although Norris rejoined narrowly ahead, Antonelli already had more grip and momentum. By Turn 4, the Mercedes was back in front.
"How did we not win this? We should have won this," Norris said over his team radio. "I'm gutted to miss out on the win."
Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, spent much of the second half of the race hunting down Leclerc before making his move on the penultimate lap to capture a place on the podium.
Leclerc's race undone by strategy and costly mistake
Ferrari have been one of the best starters on the grid this season, and even on a weekend when virtually every team arrived with significant upgrades, Leclerc's getaway was as strong as ever.
He took the lead at the start, sweeping past Antonelli as the Mercedes ran wide into Turn 1, before the front of the race turned into a fight dictated by battery deployment. Cars gained and lost speed in different parts of the lap, creating the yo-yo racing that has become one of the recurring themes of the season’s opening races. Antonelli moved back ahead on Lap 4, only for Leclerc to reclaim the lead a lap later, then Norris passed both after the safety car to take control.
Ferrari opted to pit Leclerc on Lap 21, a decision he questioned over the radio, and the stop dropped him into traffic. He fought back to third, but by the end his tyres were spent and Piastri sped past.
Desperate to win the place back, Leclerc lost the rear through Turn 3, spun into the wall and suffered damage. Leclerc accepted complete responsibility. "In the space of four corners, I put a very strong race in the bin. I can only blame myself," he said.
Leclerc was handed a 20-second post-race penalty for repeatedly leaving the track while continuing in a car the stewards deemed too damaged to be racing safely. The decision dropped him to P8.
Red Bull improving but not enough
For a brief moment, it looked as though Max Verstappen was back in business. Qualifying had given Red Bull a glimmer of hope, with Verstappen starting on the front row with an upgraded car looking capable of providing a challenge. The opening lap then unravelled spectacularly. Verstappen locked up into Turn 1, lost the rear through Turn 2 and spun down to ninth.
Red Bull pitted him under the early safety car for hard tyres but the strategy backfired as he was struggling on heavily degraded rubber by the finish. "It was just too difficult to keep the tyres alive," he said.
Verstappen crossed the finish line fifth, then received a five-second penalty after the stewards ruled he had crossed the white line at pit exit during that early stop. The penalty did not change his position, leaving Verstappen and Red Bull with their best result of the season.
Isack Hadjar was disqualified from qualifying after his new floor was found to be two millimetres outside the permitted dimensions. Red Bull then made further changes under parc ferme, forcing him to start from the pit lane. His race lasted just 11 laps before he hit the wall, leaving him thumping the steering wheel in anger. He looked inconsolable in his post-match interviews.
Colapinto shines for Alpine
Pierre Gasly has been one of the standout performers of the 2026 season, but his Miami weekend ended in brutal fashion. On Lap 5, he tried to pass Liam Lawson into the Turn 17 hairpin when Lawson’s Racing Bulls suffered a gearbox failure under braking. The contact sent Gasly’s Alpine flipping over and into the barriers, forcing both drivers out of the race. Thankfully, Gasly didn’t suffer any injuries.
On the bright side for Alpine, Franco Colapinto, who Lionel Messi and his family came to greet before the race, produced one of his finest drives of the season, crossing the line eighth in what equalled his best result in F1.
