With the unexpected month-long break caused by race cancellations in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it seemed like Formula 1 would have a second season-opener in Miami with a potential shakeup in the competitive order. However, no trends were bucked despite the efforts made by other teams to close the gap to Mercedes. Kimi Antonelli won the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, his third consecutive race victory. The 19-year-old extended his lead in standings over his Mercedes teammate George Russell to 20 points, just five shy of an entire race.
All the ingredients were there for Mercedes to be caught. According to The Race, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull brought major upgrade packages to Miami. These developments bore fruit on track with McLaren’s Lando Norris winning the sprint race from pole. The reigning world champion couldn’t carry this form into the feature race. Antonelli won pole in his un-upgraded Mercedes by over a tenth ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Norris qualified fourth.
The threat of lightning forced the start of Sunday’s race to be brought up several hours, but rain remained a possibility. It being F1, the rain never arrived. On the other hand, it seemed certain that Antonelli would have another poor start and it happened again. The Mercedes only slipped to second place because Verstappen spun his car on the Turn 1 exit curb. Charles Leclerc would find himself in control of the lead. Ferrari’s time at the front was curtailed by a safety car period, caused by two separate incidents: Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar crashing out, and Liam Lawson’s Racing Bull inadvertently entering anti-stall and flipping Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
Antonelli has yet to have a flawless race
Norris got past Leclerc on the restart, but was eventually undercut by Antonelli during a pit cycle 14 laps later. The Mercedes driver never looked back, controlling the lead for the race’s second half all the way to the checkered flag. He did miss seeing a thrilling last-lap scrap for the podium spots as Leclerc spun out in a last-ditch effort to retake third place from Oscar Piastri, then third to nurse his damaged car across the line. The Leclerc’s corner-cutting in the attempt earned a 20-second time penalty, demoting him to eighth place.
Mercedes’ victory should be discouraging for its rivals, as the team indicated it will have an upgrade package ready for the next round in Canada. The best car is about to get even better. Antonelli himself also has room for improvement. The young Italian might have accomplished the unprecedented feat of converting his first three poles into wins, but it was an uphill battle. Poor starts mean that he has had to fight his way back to the lead instead of comfortably cruising away. If the sophomore driver able to nail down his drive off the grid, he’ll be unstoppable. There’s still a long season ahead but Mercedes is keeping the rest of the field at arm’s length.
