Kimi Antonelli had a slow start from pole position, as did Max Verstappen from the front row. Charles Leclerc charged through into the lead on the run to the first corner, while Verstappen moved to block Lando Norris on the right side of the straight, forcing the Brit to back out of the throttle. Verstappen and Antonelli both locked up at the first corner. Verstappen tried to keep alongside Leclerc, but lacked grip and spun at the second corner. He was lucky that all the drivers were able to avoid hitting him as he did a 360 spin before resuming.
There was further drama later in the lap, as Franco Colapinto overtook Lewis Hamilton into turn 11. The seven-time champion already had to take evasive action to avoid hitting a spinning Red Bull. Colapinto tried a lunge up the inside of turn 11, running wide and colliding with the side of Hamilton’s Ferrari. Both drivers kept going, but with some carbon fibre bodywork shed. The stewards noted the incident, but no further action was taken.
After a few laps, Antonelli began to challenge Leclerc for the lead, overtaking him in the final corner. Leclerc stuck with him and retook the lead on the following lap. Norris managed to find his way past the Mercedes and up into P2 a lap later.
The race was neutralized by the safety car for two incidents. The first was to clear the wrecked Red Bull of Isack Hadjar. He clipped the inside barrier at the turn 14 chicane, breaking the suspension and crashing into the wall. Later in the lap, Liam Lawson attempted to dive up the inside of Pierre Gasly in turn 17, but couldn’t slow his car. He flipped the Alpine.
With the safety car deployed, Verstappen was the only driver to take a gamble on a pit stop. This was a risk as some teams began to see a threat of rain on the radar. There had already been rain at the circuit earlier in the day, and the race had been moved forward by three hours to avoid heavy rain that was forecast for the originally planned start time.
The race resumed on lap 12. Russell struggled in the opening corners, losing a position to Oscar Piastri and being threatened by Hamilton. Leclerc also struggled shortly after the restart, losing his lead to Norris and Antonelli on lap 13. Leclerc also briefly fell behind Piastri a lap later.
With the rain not really materializing, drivers began to pit around lap 20. Leclerc pitted on lap 22, but it was a slow stop for Ferrari. He rejoined narrowly behind Russell, who had made a pit stop a lap earlier. A few laps later, Antonelli pitted, and Norris did the same on the following lap. Norris rejoined ahead of Antonelli but was swiftly overtaken by the championship leader.
Having made an early pit stop, Verstappen was effectively in the net lead, but was a sitting duck from Antonelli and Norris behind on the fresher rubber. They both overtook the Red Bull for the lead of the race, as Piastri pitted. It looked as though Verstappen might be able to hold only a podium position, but he dropped behind Leclerc and Piastri with around ten laps remaining in the race. He dropped behind Russell on the penultimate lap, but overtook Leclerc for P5 in the final corner.
Leclerc had been battling with Piastri in the closing laps for the final podium position. He was overtaken by Piastri, but things turned worse for the Ferrari driver after he spun on his own, clipping the barrier. He continued the race, but had clearly damaged his car, struggling to turn right and losing positions to Russell and Verstappen on the final lap.
At the front of the field, Norris had been quite close to Antonelli as they weaved through the lapped cars, keeping to within a second of the Mercedes. With around 20 laps remaining in the race, Norris began to drop out of attack range, despite Antonelli complaining about a gearbox issue. Antonelli took another victory in Miami, increasing his lead over his teammate in the World Drivers’ Championship.
Fans will have to wait a bit longer to see more F1 racing action. Three weeks now separate us from the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. It will be the first-ever sprint weekend at the venue, with the main event set for May 24.
UPDATE: Charles Leclerc was given a 20-second time penalty for leaving the track on multiple occasions. This happened on the final lap after he had damaged his car and struggled to turn right. The stewards felt that leaving the track gave him an unfair advantage. He dropped from P6 to P8.
UPDATE: Max Verstappen was given a 5-second time penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit. This penalty did not impact the finishing positions.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 57 | 1:33:19.273 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 57 | +3.264 | 18 |  | |
| 3 | 57 | +27.092 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 57 | +43.051 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 57 | +48.949 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 57 | +53.753 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 57 | +61.871 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 57 | +64.245 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 57 | +82.072 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 57 | +90.972 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 12 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 13 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 14 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 15 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 16 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 17 | 56 | +1 Lap | |||
| 18 | 55 | +2 Laps | |||
| DNF | 7 | ||||
| DNF | 6 | ||||
| DNF | 4 | ||||
| DNF | 4 |
| 1 | K. Antonelli | 100 |  | |
| 2 | G. Russell | 80 | -20 | |
| 3 | C. Leclerc | 59 | -41 | |
| 4 | L. Norris | 51 | -49 |  |
| 5 | L. Hamilton | 51 | -49 |  |
| 1 | Mercedes | 180 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 110 | -70 | |
| 3 | McLaren | 94 | -86 | |
| 4 | Red Bull | 30 | -150 | |
| 5 | Alpine | 23 | -157 | |
