Tag Archives: Andrea Kimi Antonelli

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya — Results & aftermath

Hamilton earns first Ferrari win with bold 3-stop strategy; Russell P2 as Antonelli suffers late race DNF; Norris inherits P3

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton earned his first win for Scuderia Ferrari with a superb drive and perfect strategy calls from the pit will at Sunday’s Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya. On a hot and sunny day in the northeast of Spain, it was a blast from the past when Hamilton, who qualified P2 just behind Mercedes’ George Russell and ahead of the second Silver Arrow of points leader Kimi Antonelli, drove a perfect opening stint and then made the bold decision to be the first of the top contenders to pit, committing Ferrari and Lewis to a three-stop strategy at this high-deg track. Mercedes, meanwhile, struck with the more conventional two-stopper, but in the end more stops for fresher Pirelli rubber proved superior to running longer and stopping one less time. Hamilton also benefitted greatly from a perfectly timed Virtual Safety Car just about two-thirds of the way through this 66-lap contest that enabled hime to take his third and final stop with his closest competitors all running 30% under their normal speeds. Sir Lewis probably would still have stayed out in front of the pursuing Mercs but this little stroke of luck really tied up the eventual victory with a neat bow. Hamilton steered the car home cleanly and quickly for the final twenty-four laps, crossing the line nearly twenty seconds to the good of Russell and making the dreams of the tifosi — and his own — come true after in his second year with Ferrari.

 

Top 10 finishers of the Barcelona-Catalunya GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:32:28.105 66 3 1:20.122 (44)
2

George Russell

 Mercedes +19.561 66 2 —
3

Lando Norris

 McLaren +23.719 66 2 —
4

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +40.497 66 3 —
5

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren +58.661 66 2 —
6

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +1 Lap 65 3 —
7

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine +1 Lap 65 2 —
8

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 65 2 —
9

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 65 2 —
10

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine +1 Lap 65 2 —

 

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight, as the teams head to Austria and the fast & fierce Red Bull Ring. Can Ferrari keep closing the gap to mighty Mercedes and can Antonelli rebound after his first significant setback in his up til now magical season? Hope top see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya — Qualifying results

Aiming to get ’26 campaign back on track, Russell takes pole in Barcelona just ahead of rapid Lewis Hamilton; Antonelli in P3 off front row for first time this year

Mercedes’ George Russell, the preseason favorite for the Drivers’ title before his upstart teammate Kimi Antonelli put an end to that narrative with an early season salvo of dominance, took the first step in attempting to get his season back on track by laying down a blistering lap at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya good enough for pole position in Sunday’s Grand Prix. After being blanked in terms of points in the last two races in Canada & Monaco, Russell utilized his desperation to hook up a fast lap at the death of Q3 that put him well ahead of  Antonelli by some three-tenths. Somewhat surprisingly, it was a resurgent Lewis Hamilton driving the Ferrari who gave Russell the closest run for his money, displaying a bit of the old seven-time champ magic to slot in just six one-hundredths of a second behind Russell and grab P2 across from his erstwhile teammate come Sunday. That bumped Antonelli off the front row for the first time this year and he will line up side by side with the McLaren of reigning world champion Lando Norris. The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were the next fastest, qualifying in P5 and P6 respectively, putting them both ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who could only muster a time good enough for P7. The young Aussie struggled more than his teammate with rear locking and controlling tire temperature under the brutal Catalunyan sun.

Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson was P8, veteran Nico Hulkenberg  an impressive P9 for Audi and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc did not set a time after crashing out early in Q3 following a snap of oversteer at Turn 4, bringing out the Red Flag for the cleanup. The Monegasque driver was unhurt aside from his pride, after also crashing out of his home Grand Prix last weekend late in the race.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Barcelona-Catalunya GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:15.717 1:15.228 1:14.679 13
2

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:15.625 1:15.418 1:14.743 14
3

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:15.977 1:15.295 1:14.998 14
4

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:16.287 1:15.361 1:15.001 14
5

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:16.352 1:15.484 1:15.021 12
6

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:16.427 1:15.754 1:15.077 14
7

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:16.138 1:15.518 1:15.090 15
8

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls 1:16.673 1:15.585 1:16.542 14
9

Nico Hülkenberg

 Audi 1:16.066 1:15.768 1:16.657 17
10

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:15.964 1:15.281 — 8

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 9AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. Can Russell keep Hamilton and Antonelli behind him and get back into the championship fight? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Antonelli romps to first Monaco victory, fifth win in a row as Verstappen DNFs at start; Hamilton hangs on for P2, Hadjar avoids late penalty to keep P3, Russell doesn’t to tumble out of points in incident-filled race

Mercedes’ teenage phenom Kimi Antonelli romped to victory at Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, earning his first win at this fabled street circuit and making it an astounding five victories in a row for the young Italian. While his putative championship rivals suffered various race destroying incidents on what was a chaotic, incident-filled day, Antonelli survived a late Red Flag period that wiped out his large time advantage and then a standing restart with nine laps to go, the only known Achilles heel of this year’s Silver Arrow. Antonelli aced it off the line nonetheless, easily keeping Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari at bay and cruising home to take F1’s most prestigious trophy some 6.27 seconds to the good. On a day that featured seven premature retirements for the Grand Prix, the one that potentially benefitted Antonelli the most came right at the start, when the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, lining up in P2 on the grid and expected to be the main threat to Mercedes after a superb qualifying, suffered a catastrophic power unit failure when he dropped the clutch to make his getaway. As cars streamed by the helpless Dutchman, he managed to get it going on battery power, but the team quickly realized the issue was terminal and brought him in to retire the car. It was mega-frustrating day for Verstappen and his fans in a race where he really had a shot at victory due to Monaco’s unique slow-speed, high downforce characteristics, not to mention Verstappen’s special abilities in demanding environments.

George Russell, Antonelli’s teammate and closest Championship pursuer, also had a disastrous day. After looking less than conformable all weekend within the tight confines of the street circuit, Russell lined up down in P6 at the start at a track where it is extremely difficult to overtake. It got worse for the British contender when he incurred a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane during his first stop for fresh Pirellis on Lap 32. To be fair to Russell, multiple drivers were also dinged for violating the pit lane speed limit, an oddity caused by Monaco’s unique right-left entry and then another left kink upon exit and perhaps also something in the new design of the cars this year that saw drivers illegally shortening the distance to the timing loops. In any event, Russell had that hanging over his head for the next twenty-plus laps as he tried to get up to Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and perhaps get himself onto the podium. But it all went away on Lap 61, when the team brought both Silver Arrows in under a Safety Car caused by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crashing out at the final Antony Noghès corner. While Russell had to wait while race leader Antonelli was serviced, the mechanics were not clear on Russell’s need to mandatorily serve his 5-seconds once he came into the box. Instead, they changed his tires right away, a violation that incurred a harsh drive-through penalty. While Russell tried to salvage something and hung it out until the end, perhaps hoping for a reprieve from the stewards, none was forthcoming and the drive-through plunged him down the order and into a pointless P12. That made it two very difficult zero-point races in a row after his mechanical DNF last time out in Montreal and increased his deficit to Antonelli to a discouraging 68 points, as well as dropping him behind Hamilton and into third by the time all the post-race dust had settled.

 

Two big beneficiaries of the misfortunes that befell so many were Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s lone surviving entrant, Hadjar. With Verstappen going out on Lap 1 or this 78-lap contest, Hamilton inherited P2. And while it looked a tossup for that final position all race long between the seven time champ and his Monegasque teammate Charle Leclerc, the hometown hero shockingly binned it on a Safety Car restart on Lap 65, spearing off into the barriers at Noghès just as Stroll had done. That heartbreak for the hometown favorite, who blamed his brakes in no uncertain terms, led to a prolonged Red Flag period, as the race director and event organizers surveyed that particular piece of track where the tarmac appeared to be breaking up. It also promoted the P4 Hadjar into P3 and a potential first podium with the big Red Bull team. When the long Red Flag period ended and the race resumed from a standing start on Lap 70, Hamilton had nothing for Antonelli but easily kept Hadjar behind him to claim his second second place in a row. Hadjar, meanwhile, survived an investigation into a possible Red Flag infraction, as well as a dodgy power unit ion his own, and then benefitted from yet another speeding penalty, this time to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, to earn that last step on the podium in Monaco, a fittingly complicated ending to what was a highly chaotic but entertaining race.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 2:23:31.243 78 4 1:13.481 (76)
2

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +6.271 78 5 —
3

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +23.394 78 4 —
4

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren +24.261 78 5 —
5

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +26.553 78 4 —
6

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +29.010 78 4 —
7

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine +30.369 78 4 —
8

Alexander Albon

 Williams +33.413 78 5 —
9

Esteban Ocon

 Haas +37.140 78 5 —
10

Fernando Alonso

 Aston Martin +41.899 78 6 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time, as the teams jet off to Spain for the Grand Prix of Barcelona-Catalunya. With the exception of Antonelli, Hamilton and Hadjar, the majority of the drivers will be happy to have such a brief break to escape the claustrophobic confines of Monaco and start with a clean slate at a purpose built circuit. Antonelli, on the other hand, will just be keen to keep the good times rolling in his pursuit of becoming the first Italian F1 champion since Alberto Ascari back in 1953. hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Red hot Antonelli snatches Monaco pole from razor sharp Verstappen; Hamilton out-duels hometown favorite Leclerc for P3: Russell struggles en route to P6

Mercedes young phenom Kimi Antonelli, winner of the last four Grand Prix on the trot, continued his red hot ways by wresting pole away from a very game Max Verstappen during Saturday Qualifying for the legendary Monaco Grand Prix. With the tight and twisty streets of the principality looking more claustrophobic than even, Antonelli kept his foot in it on his final flying lap, as he had done all day, mastering the ultimate street circuit on the F1 calendar to the tune of a 1:12.051 lap. That was a little over four-tenths quicker than Verstappen’s best effort in his Red Bull. But he and the team will still be very pleased to come home P2 on the day and to be so close in competitiveness to mighty Mercedes, at least for this one very atypical race. Antonelli and Verstappen’s excellence also put Ferrari in the shade when many had been picking one of the two Prancing Horses to start from pole on Sunday. Instead, Lewis Hamilton got the better of hometown favorite Charles Leclerc, P3 to P4. The Monegasque native recovered from being mired down in P10 earlier in Q3 to take provisional pole with his penultimate lap but then whammed the barriers at Tabac on his final flier, ending any hopes of improvement.

Red Bull’s second driver, Isack Hadjar, also performed well, capturing P5 on the grid. That was one spot better than George Russell’s Mercedes, the Briton looking less than comfortable in the cramped confines all weekend so far, in contrast to youthful upstart Antonelli. At a place where passing is nigh impossible, Russell will have it all to do come race day to somehow keep up with his streaking points-leading teammate at the front. After some glimmers in qualifying, McLaren underwhelmed when it really counted, with Oscar Piastri only good enough for P7 and Lando Norris just behind his Aussie teammate in P8. On the other hand, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls Liam Lawson exceeded expectations, qualifying P9 and P10 respectively despite both just scraping through to progress in the first two Quali sessions.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:13.599 1:12.704 1:12.051 28
2

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:13.490 1:12.499 1:12.094 26
3

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:13.777 1:12.934 1:12.279 28
4

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:13.293 1:12.774 1:12.351 29
5

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:14.408 1:12.722 1:12.434 25
6

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:14.214 1:13.238 1:12.445 28
7

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:14.159 1:12.983 1:12.624 29
8

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:13.630 1:12.919 1:12.765 28
9

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine 1:14.469 1:13.762 1:13.226 32
10

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls 1:14.498 1:13.471 1:13.412 29

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live beginning at 9 AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. The opening lap battle for supremacy between Antonelli and Verstappen should be epic and the Ferarri duo of Hamilton and Leclerc will be looking to take advantage of any contact between the two. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Antonelli wins fourth on the trot in Canada as frustrated Russell DNFs; Hamilton makes late pass on Verstappen for P2; McLaren gamble on tires and come up snake eyes

Mercedes rising star Kimi Antonelli prevailed for the victory at a chaotic Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, surviving a fierce 30-lap intra-team battle with his most serious rival, George Russell, that was spicier than a vindaloo curry and then sailing to an easy win after Russell’s Silver Arrow called it quits on Lap 31 of this 68-lap contest. No other cars could challenge Antonelli en route to his fourth victory on the trot and the teen sensation bumped up his points lead over Russell to 43 after five rounds in 2026. Russell’s DNF opened the door to second and third place wide open and Ferarri’s Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had a ding dong battle for second place as then laps ran down. After hunting his old rival’s Red Bull over the course of several circuits, Hamilton was finally able to overtake the Dutch master on Lap 62 while using his full momentum from the start finish straight and steaming past into Turn 1. Verstappen did his best to regain P2 over the course of the final seven laps but Hamilton was able to keep the position for his and the Scuderia’s best finish of the young season. Despite being relegated to third on the day, that final podium spot was also Verstappen and Red Bull’s best finish so far in 2026.The second Ferrari’ of Charles Leclerc was never quite on top of the vicissitudes of Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in the masterful manner of Hamilton, a seven-time winner here, and came home a respectable but rather forlorn P4. Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar survived a raft of penalties to take a solid P5, making it a strong double points day for what has been an inconsistent Red Bull campaign so far.

On the other side of the coin, McLaren had a disastrous day, beginning when they decided that the damp but rapidly drying conditions on Île Notre Dame warranted a gamble on wet weather Intermediate Pirellis, making them the only team in the top ten starters to see things that way. While the Papaya duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri did get away quickly from their slick grid spots, with Norris even passing both Mercedes for the lead on Lap 1, any benefit was going to be extremely short lived and the team baled as the track was clearly going to be dry for the foreseeable future. Piastri, who had been complaining about the risky tire choice from even before the formation lap, came into the pit for a switch to slick Mediums before completing his first race lap and Norris followed on the end of Lap 2. From there, McLaren were well and truly behind the eight-ball, with both drivers now having to fight their way back into the points after  qualifying on the second row. Things went from bad to worse when Norris was forced to retire on Lap 40 with a terminal gearbox issue and Piastri, after an incident-filled attempt to flight back to the front, including incurring a ten-second penalty for punting Alexander Albon’s Williams out of the race at the hairpin midway through, could only manage to scramble his way back up to P11. McLaren will be keen to turn the page on their pointless Canadian nightmare as they head to another grand casino in Monaco in two weeks. They’ll be hoping their self-made luck runs better at the principality than the unforced snake eyes they rolled in Montreal.

Top 10 finishers of the Canadian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:28:15.758 68 1 1:14.210 (68)
2

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +10.768 68 1 —
3

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +11.276 68 1 —
4

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari +44.151 68 1 —
5

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +1 Lap 67 3 —
6

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine +1 Lap 67 1 —
7

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 67 1 —
8

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine +1 Lap 67 1 —
9

Carlos Sainz

 Williams +1 Lap 67 2 —
10

Oliver Bearman

 Haas +1 Lap 67 1 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight as the F1 circus heads to its most glamorous venue, the Monaco Street Circuit The cars will wend their way through the famously tight streets of the principality for the calendar’s slowest race where qualifying is essentially everything. With Anotnelli looking imperious, it will be interesting to see how the young Italian can pedal it in such tight quarters, and with Russell desperate for a bit of hope, Hamilton and Verstappen surging and the home favorite Monegasque Leclerc. Hope to se you then to find out how it all shakes out!

 

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Russell nabs pole at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve with last-second flier, Antonelli P2 as Mercedes lock out front row; McLaren claim second row with Norris ahead of Piastri, P3 to P4

Having already aggressively diced with and prevailed over his Mercedes teammate in the Sprint race, George Russell came from down in tenth place to seize pole at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve with a stunning final flying lap during Saturday Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. Desperate to reestablish his championship aspirations and get back on terms with his points-leading Silver Arrows stablemate, Kimi Antonelli, Russell was all arms and elbows in the Sprint en route to victory there, earning the ire of the young Italian in the process, and then pulled one out of the bag in the dying moments of Q3 to relegate Antonelli to second on the grid here in Montreal. The opening lap battles between the two Mercedes men should set the tone for a potentially epic internecine fight for glory that could well end in tears for one or both men and potentially open the door for another contender to take advantage of any potential race-altering contacts between the two lead Mercs.

Chief among those trailing rivals appear to be a resurgent McLaren, whose tandem of reigning champion Lando Norris and the always capable Oscar Piastri steadily progressed on pace throughout quali and put themselves firmly ahead of both Ferraris with a P3 for Norris and a P4 for Piastri.  While the McLaren duo couldn’t quite match the pace of mighty Mercedes, team Papaya are inching closer to parity with some already significant early season upgrades. Lewis Hamilton flew the flag for Ferrari at a circuit he loves and where he has seven career victories. While his hopes for pole faded as Mercedes and McLaren showed their true one-lap pace, he put in a time good enough for a solid P5. That was quite a bit more rapid than his normally equal stablemate, Charles Leclerc, who struggled throughout qualifying with the balance of his Prancing Horse and ended up merely P8 on the time sheets. The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar split the Scuderia in P6 and P7 respectively, despite Verstappen’s vociferous gripes about the abilities of his RB22. Rounding out the top ten qualifiers for Canada, rookie Arvid Lindblad pedaled his Racing Bull to an impressive P9 and Franco Colapinto was the lead Alpine in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Canadian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:13.953 1:13.079 1:12.578 24
2

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:13.380 1:13.076 1:12.646 24
3

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:13.503 1:13.049 1:12.729 28
4

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:13.559 1:13.285 1:12.781 29
5

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:13.767 1:13.041 1:12.868 27
6

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:14.067 1:13.479 1:12.907 23
7

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:13.654 1:12.975 1:12.935 22
8

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:13.825 1:13.496 1:12.976 29
9

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls 1:13.895 1:13.548 1:13.280 28
10

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine 1:14.466 1:13.857 1:13.697 27

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Sprint Race results are here.

Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix airs live beginning at 4pm Eastern on AppleTV and Netflix here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Russell can keep Antonelli behind him or if the two come to grief amidst their increasingly heated rivalry and open the door to another contender to take victory!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Results & aftermath

Antonelli holds off Norris to take third win on the trot but gap to Mercedes supremacy tightens; Piastri seizes P3 for greatly improved McLaren; late Leclerc spin dooms Ferrari

The long delayed Round 4 of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship finally got underway in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix and it was quickly apparent that the rules changes by the sport’s governing body and the individual upgrades by the contending Constructors had paid huge dividends vis a vis the quality of racing and competitiveness. After three strange and artificial opening races under the new regulations, which the Mercedes factory team generally dominated, Kimi Antonelli was once again the pole-sitter for the third contest in a row here at the temporary Miami International Autodrome just outside and around the stadium where the NFL’s Dolphins play. But this time the competitors behind him almost made him pay for his typical poor start when the lights went out. As the young Italian’s Silver Arrow bogged down, he was quickly swallowed up the third positioned Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen’s second place Red Bull. But, while Leclerc prevailed to pull away from the pack, Verstappen had a shocking self-induced spin that dropped him down the order to P10. This benefitted Antonelli, who recovered well enough from yet another slow getaway, his one bête noir this year, and began methodically hunting down Leclerc’s Prancing Horse. By lap 4, the Mercedes man was close enough to execute a move on Leclerc and recapture first place. As has been typical of these cars this year, however, Leclerc was able to pass back to retake P1. Two laps later, McLaren’s Lando Norris also go into the action, taking advantage of the ongoing scrap to sneak by Anotonelli and suddenly relegate the Merc to P3.

It was on that action-packed sixth lap of this 57-lap contest that Red Bull’s second driver Isack Hadjar came to grief and found the barriers after missing the apex steaming into the tricky Turn 14 complex.Recing Bull’s Liam Lawson also contacted the Alpine of Pierre Gasly at just an unfortunate enough able to send the Frenchman literally barrel rolling off the track. When racing resumed after all that chaos five laps later, Leclerc led away from the restart cleanly but quickly found Norris right on his gearbox. On Lap 13, Norris steamed by the lead Ferrari with ease and then Antonelli and Leclerc spent the next couple of circuits passing and re-passing each other until finally Antonelli made a move stick to secure second place late in Lap 14. As things settled into a post Safety Car rhythm, the race waited for the first real pit stop shoe to drop. Although Verstappen was the only genuine to contender to pit earlier under the Safety Car due to being out of position after his ill-timed opening lap spin — and promptly being noted by the stewards for illegally crossing the white line at pit exit — it was Mercedes’ George Russell who pulled the pin amongst the top five under green flag conditions on Lap 21. Leclerc quickly followed him in a lap later in an attempt to cover the Briton’s Silver Arrow. But Ferrari lost out with a slow 3.7 second stop and Leclerc came out behind Russell. Antonelli hung it out a little longer but pitted from P2 on Lap 27 for the same favored Medium to Hard Pirelli change as all the top runners chose. Norris ran a lap later for his tire swap but the undercut proved powerful enough that Antonelli was able to pass Norris on hotter tires for P3 just after the McLaren man exited the pits.

This turned out to be the decisive moment in Miami, as Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri made his first stop a lap later, conceding the point to Verstappen, who had committed to running a very long second stint on the Hards after rolling the dice under the Safety Car. Game as he was, the Dutchman was no match for the much fresher rubber on Antonelli’s and Norris’s cars, and he was first passed for the lead by Antonelli on Lap 29 and then relegated to P3 by Norris a lap later. Meanwhile, Leclerc seemed to be making amends for the team’s slow stop as he hunted a podium, the Mongasque getting by Russell for P4 and then badgering and finally overtaking the game Verstappen after a spirited back and forth on Lap 47. Piastri was also eager to show the improved pace of his McLaren, contending for P5 with Russell and finally securing it with a decisive overtake on Lap 36. Piastri was then able to put himself in position to grab fourth from Verstappen on lap 49, the Red Bull’s aging Hards just about giving up the ghost by this point and now also about to see Russell filling up his mirrors for the final few circuits. The McLaren’s quality shown once again, as Piastri nabbed the final podium position from Leclerc on outright pace on the final lap. Leclerc’s then shockingly spun the Ferrari on his own and glanced sideways into the wall, damaging the suspension. With Russell easily by Verstappen earlier in the final lap, he then pounced on Leclerc’s wounded Prancing Horse for a valuable P4, as did the never say die Verstappen, the Red Bull coming home fifth while the despondent Leclerc was finally demoted to P6 by his atypical error (and later P8 after incurring a post-race 20-second time penalty for driving an unsafe vehicle after that fateful spin). At the front, Antonelli serenely took the Checkers to make it three wins on then trot and solidify his championship points lead. But, with Norris finishing P2 and Piastri P3, McLaren fired a warning shot to the entire paddock that they are back fighting for wins and doing everything they can to equal Mercedes’ so far superior race pace in 2026.

Top 10 finishers of the Miami GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:33:19.273 57 1 —
2

Lando Norris

 McLaren +3.264 57 1 1:31.869 (35)
3

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren +27.092 57 1 —
4

George Russell

 Mercedes +43.051 57 1 —
5

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +48.949 57 1 —
6

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +53.753 57 1 —
7

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine +1:01.871 57 1 —
8

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari +1:04.245 57 1 —
9

Carlos Sainz

 Williams +1:22.072 57 1 —
10

Alexander Albon

 Williams +1:30.972 57 1 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Unfortunately, after all the exciting action in Miami, the next race is not for another three weeks — the Canadian Grand Prix from the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal. All the teams are certain to be feverishly working to continue the improvements they’ve already been able to make due to the previous five-week hiatus. Hope to see you then to find out if anyone finally has found the key to success against Kimi Antonelli’s merciless Mercedes!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Qualifying results

Rivals creep closer to Mercedes after long break but Antonelli still scores third pole in a row; Verstappen less than two-tenths behind in P2, Leclerc a solid P3

Formula 1 returned from an unprecedented five week break at the very beginning of the season to race the temporary Miami International Autodrome street circuit for a Sprint weekend and proved that neither the FIA or the teams had been idle during their extended time off.  The rules body issued  a host of tweaks to the new formula designed to improve the quality of racing and reduce the clear risks of the radically different race speeds displayed in the opening three rounds. And the majority of the teams went to work on improving their chassis in relation to the currently dominant Mercedes team. Both of these big if distinct changes showed immediate dividends in Sprint qualifying and the Sprint itself, with McLaren finding a reprise of their 2025 mojo here in Miami to the tune of a Lando Norris/Oscar Piastri one-two finish in the 19-lap Sprint. But Saturday Grand Prix qualifying saw a bit off a reversion to the 2026 mean, with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli laying down a superb lap early in Q3 that no one could quite touch, earning the young Italian points leader his third pole on the trot. It wasn’t for lack of trying from his closest pursuers, however. A reinvigorated Max Verstappen pulled his heavily revised Red Bull RB22 to within .166 of Antonelli’s best effort, taking P2 alongside the Merc in the process. And Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was able to muster third on the grid in his equally improved Prancing Horse. With Norris not quite as quick as he had been in the Sprint quali but slotting into a respectable P4 and Antonelli’s unfortunate habit of terrible starts off the line in every round so far to start the season, it really could be anyone’s first corner when the lights go out in Miami on Sunday.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Miami GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:28.653 1:28.289 1:27.798 17
2

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:29.099 1:28.116 1:27.964 15
3

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:28.938 1:28.315 1:28.143 21
4

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:29.183 1:28.920 1:28.183 20
5

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:29.492 1:28.477 1:28.197 18
6

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:29.483 1:28.477 1:28.319 21
7

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:29.920 1:28.332 1:28.500 20
8

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine 1:29.584 1:28.975 1:28.762 19
9

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine 1:29.914 1:29.070 1:28.810 20
10

Nico Hülkenberg

 Audi 1:29.645 1:29.439 — 14

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s GP airs live on AppleTV beginning at 1PM Eastern, about three hours earlier than originally scheduled, due to some severe weather being forecast for later in the afternoon in that part of Florida. Hope to see you then to find out if Antonelli can finally make a clean getaway and then manage to keep the very hungry Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris behind him to the finish!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Qualifying results

Mercedes still setting early season pace as Antonelli nails down second consecutive pole, Russell starts P2 at Suzuka; McLaren back in the mix with Piastri P3, Norris P5; Ferrari’s Leclerc P4

Flush with the confidence of his first Formula 1 win two weeks ago in China, Mercedes’ rising young star Kimi Antonelli made it two poles in a row with a superb effort at the always challenging Suzuka Circuit during Saturday Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. The 19-year-old was able to get just that much more out of his Silver Arrow than his veteran teammate George Russell, to the tune of nearly three-tenths on their fastest respective laps set midway through Q3. To be fair, Russell seemed to struggle all day with an issue with his rear stability throughout quali and, additionally, the track seemed to deteriorate somewhat toward the end of the final round with regards to overall grip. Nevertheless, the current points leader will be keen to retake the momentum from his precocious Mercedes teammate and beat him off the line come race day.

McLaren showed some tentative signs of regaining their footing after a fairly disastrous opening two rounds, with Oscar Piastri a ways away from the Mercs but still good enough for P3 and the second row and teammate and reigning World Champion Lando Norris just off the Aussie’s pace in P5. The specter of mechanical gremlins still hovers over team Papaya, however, as Norris’s car spent nearly all of Free Practice 3 in the garage with a software/battery communication issue plaguing their new power plant. It will be critical that both McLarens run a full race distance in Sunday’s GP no matter where they end up finishing, lest these initial severe teething problems threaten to derail their 2026 campaign, while Mercedes and Ferrari take the opportunity to bury them.

Speaking of Ferrari, Charles Leclerc looked to be on the ragged edge of adhesion pretty much all race weekend so far. But the Monegasque still managed to wring the neck of his SF-26 to the tune of the fourth fastest time, splitting the McLaren’s on the grid. Scuderia teammate Lewis Hamilton was about a tenth and a half slower and slotted in behind Norris in P6. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly came from seemingly nowhere to post an impressive final time good enough for P7, which bodes well for both driver and team after the Frenchman’s impressive sixth place finish in the previous Chinese GP. Red Bull’s new promotion for this year, Isack Hadjar, earned P8, bettering his more decorated stablemate Max Verstappen, who struggled with an unruly mount on his way to an underwhelming P12 and early exit in Q2. The Dutch Master’s mood about the current state of F1 was certainly not improved after he called his RB22 “undriveable” yet again, his new favorite adjective. On the other hand, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoletto and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad seemed more than pleased with the new formula, the young guns slotting in at P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Japanese Grand Prix:

CLA DRIVER # LAPS TIME INTERVAL TYRES KM/H
1 A. AntonelliMercedes 12 15

1’28.778

 S 235.477
2 G. RussellMercedes 63 21

+0.298

1’29.076

 0.298 S 234.689
3 O. PiastriMcLaren 81 20

+0.354

1’29.132

 0.056 S 234.542
4 C. LeclercFerrari 16 18

+0.627

1’29.405

 0.273 S 233.825
5 L. NorrisMcLaren 1 20

+0.631

1’29.409

 0.004 S 233.815
6 L. HamiltonFerrari 44 20

+0.789

1’29.567

 0.158 S 233.402
7 P. GaslyAlpine 10 18

+0.913

1’29.691

 0.124 S 233.080
8 I. HadjarRed Bull Racing 6 17

+1.200

1’29.978

 0.287 S 232.336
9 G. BortoletoAudi 5 20

+1.496

1’30.274

 0.296 S 231.574
10 A. LindbladRacing Bulls 41 21

+1.541

1’30.319

 0.045 S 231.459

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on Apple TV beginning at 1 AM Eastern here in the States. Can McLaren really get their mojo back and take the fight to mighty Mercedes or can Leclerc and Ferrari pull an epic upset?  Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Antonelli scores first F1 win with perfect drive in Shanghai, Russell P2 as Mercedes extend early season dominance; Hamilton earns first Ferrari podium besting P4 teammate Leclerc; Disaster for McLaren as neither Norris or Piastri are able to start

Mercedes’ second-year driver Kimi Antonelli converted his record-setting effort as F1’s youngest ever driver to take pole in a Grand Prix into the fulfillment of all his professional dreams. Antonelli handily won Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, thereby becoming the second youngest driver to earn a win behind the then 18-year-old Max Verstappen, as well as the first Italian national to claim victory in twenty years. Avoiding the unacceptably slow starts that have cost the 19-year-old Italian in both Round 1 in Australia and Saturday’s Sprint race here at Shanghai International Circuit, Antonelli quickly recovered after losing a position to the hard charging Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap. Keeping his cool, Antonelli quickly took back the position from the Prancing Horse of the seven-time champ on Lap 2. From there on out, he, deftly held off the best efforts of not only his senior Silver Arrows teammate, George Russell, but also the veteran Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.  Antonelli was able to control the race from the front like a veteran to keep the Ferraris and Russell behind him with relative ease until the checkers flew after Lap 56, notching his first F1 win in a new car that, at this early date, seems capable of winning the majority of races this year.  With this maiden victory, Antonelli proved that Mercedes’ faith in the minimally experienced teenager to replace Hamilton was well founded and he now has the skill and confidence to go toe to toe with the best at this level, including the person who could be his main rival for the 2026 title, the supremely talented and very hungry for the crown Russell.

Top 10 finishers of the Chinese GP:

Pos Driver Time Pts
1
A.K. Antonelli
Mercedes

·

#12
1:33:15.607
25
2
G. Russell
Mercedes

·

#63
+5.515s
18
3
L. Hamilton
Ferrari

·

#44
+25.267s
15
4
C. Leclerc
Ferrari

·

#16
+28.894s
12
5
O. Bearman
Haas

·

#87
+57.268s
10
6
P. Gasly
Alpine

·

#10
+59.647s
8
7
L. Lawson
RB

·

#30
+80.588s
6
8
I. Hadjar
Red Bull

·

#6
+87.247s
4
9
C. Sainz Jr.
Williams

·

#55
+1 Lap
2
10
F. Colapinto
Alpine

·

#43
+1 Lap
1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time, as the teams head to Japan’s famous Suzuka Circuit. Anotnelli will have an extra week to savor his first F1 win but no doubt the young Italian is raring too get back onto the track and repeat the feat. Likewise, teammate George Russell and the dueling Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc will be eager to fight for the top step themselves. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!