F1. Miami 2026 Review
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By Gavin Huet, Chelsea Wintle, Graeme Woolf, and Aiden McLaughlin
Driver of the Weekend
Gavin: Kimi Antonelli. Take a statistic and add “youngest ever” to it and you have built a fairly accurate resume for the Italian driver. The maturity this year is there for all to see alongside the results, and George Russell will be quietly seething about it all. Perfect.
Graeme:Lando Norris. He’s had a tough start to the season but it looks like the defending champion is nearing the kind of form that netted him the title last year. After winning the Sprint race, he finished 2nd in the Grand Prix behind the young phenom Kimi Antonelli. Norris is still well behind Antonelli as far as points go, but he’s hunting him down for sure.
Chelsea: Max Verstappen started in P2 and ended in P5, but was my favourite driver to watch across the weekend. After a spin on the first lap while getting amongst it, he somehow wrangled the Red Bull back up to race pace and even led the pack briefly. In contrast, Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar had a tantrum at the wheel after embracing the wall, starkly underscoring the difference between the two drivers.
Aiden: Franco Colapinto had a torrid 2025 after replacing Jack Doohan, but this year he’s a different driver. With Alpine taking on Mercedes engines, they are firmly in mid-division and the Argentine is rising to the occasion. After Charles Leclerc was handed a post race 20-second penalty, Colapinto finished in a career high seventh place after taking 10th place in the sprint. The tough love from Flavio Briatore seems to have done the trick.Talking Point
Gavin: Firstly, the new regulations. Did they make a difference, not from where I was viewing. The big issue for me is that viewers don’t know when the battery is charging or deploying, so we can’t predict what will happen during an overtake. DRS was simpler: you saw the wing and that was it. Now, you see an overtake and don’t know if it was a great move or a great battery strategy. I have no issue with the battery, I just want to know how and when it is being used.
Secondly, where was the rain? I think F1 made the right call to move the race start to avoid the potential issue; throughout the race there were updates and reports but the issue never materialized.
Graeme:Only 1 driver in the history of Formula 1 has ever converted their first 3 Poles into their first 3 wins. And it happened this weekend in Miami. Kimi Antonelli is already threatening to run away with the title this year while the others are getting further away in his rear-view mirrors. I don’t think the title race is over by any stretch, but it’s definitely going to be over if others don’t get their shit together quickly.
Chelsea: There are many, many shiny new things to look at this season – Arvid Lindblad, the RBs’ fluroescent “summer-sun” livery, the largely experimental new regulations. In a year that requires so much adaptation and a distinctly (brace for nausea, IT friends) agile mindset, it’s nice to know some things don’t change. It’s not so nice that the constant is Ferrari absolutely missing the mark in both upgrades and race strategy. With intimidating Florida rain on the horizon, the team chose to pit Charles Leclerc, rather than waiting for an almost inevitable safety car and getting a free one. Leclerc himself was as confused as everyone else, and broadcast a knuckle-rapping for the world to hear: “Next time you make a big decision, speak with me first!”
Aiden: During an enforced gap in the calendar, the powers that be got together to thrash out some changes to the regulations and at first glance, it feels like a positive move. The cancelled races have also given the teams time to get upgrades to their cars, which certainly saw an approved performance from the likes of McLaren and Red Bull.
Gossip Time
Gavin: I am officially over the drivers talking about the new regulations and saying that driving this generation of cars is “no fun” etc. This is your day job, stop acting like a primadonna and go racing. F1 is becoming so elitist again. Ticket prices for fans to attend the race weekends only increase, and before we know it there will just be a bunch of rich celebrities and spoilt drivers stroking each other’s egos for three days instead of showcasing the pinnacle of motorsport. F1 has had a massive resurgence due in no small part to Drive To Survive and F1: The Movie but people will become tired of this fakeness very quickly.
* old man shouting at cloud gif *
Graeme: It’s crunch time for a number of teams now if they want to push their cases for any kind of decent result this season. Williams & Alpine showed some sort of improvement in Miami, Aston Martin, Haas and the Racing Bulls appear to have gone nowhere while Cadillac and Audi are near the back end as expected. You’d think with 5 weeks off, while still being able to test and develop, we’d see improvements from all teams, but apparently not.
Chelsea: Cruella de Vil, donning a smart suit and full-face beard, spotting tipping a bottle of water over the head of race winner Kimi Antonelli. Bizarre.
Aiden: We now have 11 teams on the grid with Cadillac, but could it be 12? Chinese manufacturer BYD has been in talks with F1, but it’s not certain what their future involvement could be; perhaps they’ll buy a current team, start their own team, or be an engine supplier. It’s yet another sign of the global growth of the sport.
Looking Ahead
Gavin: Canada is next up at the end of the month and I am guessing we will see more upgrades to the cars coming through. Cue much talk about Gary The Groundhog and an interview with Lance Stroll.
Graeme: More time off! Come on, we just want racing. Although we’ve had 4 races so far, it feels like the season is barely going. It’s a pity that the schedule couldn’t be rejigged to have a triple header now to get started again. But that would be a logistical challenge. I can’t wait for the European summer when we’ll have races most weekends.
Chelsea: I thought Kimi Antonelli’s early season success was down to one part skill, one part car, and one part George Russell’s misfortune – but I’m being forced to reassess after his outstanding weekend. We love our statistics but his is a genuinely decent boast – the first driver ever to convert his first three pole positions into race victories. Antonelli’s challenges will come when his weekends don’t go according to plan, and the time it takes him to recover.
Aiden: More upgrades in Canada in three weeks time. Mercedes are bringing lots and Ferrari and others will be bringing some too. The cars just keep on evolving.
Bonus Picture(s)
Kimi is going to be a Ferrari driver soon isn’t he?
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