Miami Grand Prix driver ratings: Kimi Antonelli leads chaotic race weekend
Kimi Antonelli shone after winning his third race in a row
The Miami Grand Prix had a frantic start and end as Kimi Antonelli managed to secure an unorthodox victory from pole.
Antonelli recovered from a slow start to win as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri rounded out the podium, but there are lots of stories to recap up and down the grid as we grade each driver’s race in Miami.
Miami Grand Prix 2026 driver ratings
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Kimi Antonelli: 9.5
The only driver in Formula 1 history to have not only taken his first three pole positions in succession, but also converted them into victories.
Kimi Antonelli is beginning to write his own name into the record books here. Having taken a brilliant pole in Miami only to lose the lead off the line, he recovered to lead the race and not let it go from there.
Despite reporting tyre and throttle issues over team radio, he kept his cool on a warm day to take another race victory. Mercedes deserves credit too, for performing an undercut which would prove critical to the outcome.
Subtracting a half-point? His starts remain an issue for him. He admitted it’s “not acceptable” on his part to keep losing places at the start, but if he overcomes every deficit like this, how much does that really matter?
Lando Norris: 9
The fact Norris sounded slightly irritated at not winning this race shows how much the McLaren has improved between Japan and Miami.
He was clinical in moving into the lead early on but, like his teammate in Suzuka, once Antonelli was able to get back ahead after the only round of stops, he couldn’t get close enough to try and land a pass.
An encouraging weekend for the reigning world champion, whose Sprint win combined for a hefty points tally from his weekend.
Oscar Piastri: 8
Piastri admitted he was “just that tenth or two off” Norris through big portions of the weekend, but how he rose through the field in the second half of the race deserves a solid mark.
His move around the outside of George Russell to take fourth place at the Safety Car restart was superb, and he stayed patient while picking off those in front to maximise what he could do on the day.
George Russell: 7
I echo my colleague, Thomas Maher, in wondering why George Russell openly admitted to Miami being something of a bogey circuit of his. That immediately hands a psychological advantage to his teammate and places an unnecessary label on a track when work behind the scenes will have been geared towards maximising the weekend.
As a title contender who started the season so well, Russell was frankly outclassed by his teammate through the weekend. He raced well in close combat, but he did not help himself by pre-empting a lower performance level.
Max Verstappen: 7.5
Red Bull looked revitalised this weekend, and Verstappen gets at least a point for his performance in qualifying alone.
Even though he was voted Driver of the Day by fans, and enjoyed a strong comeback through the race, it’s difficult to be too generous given the self-inflicted spin on the exit of Turn 2 – though he deserves plaudits for how he controlled the car to keep going.
Verstappen certainly got his elbows out in combat with the car underneath him to do so and held on as much as he could on much older tyres towards the end. He most likely would have taken 5th place when he was running in 16th after his early pit stop.
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Lewis Hamilton: 6
A somewhat anonymous afternoon for Hamilton, who was left in something of a no-man’s-land after contact with Franco Colapinto on the first lap.
The FIA judged it to be a racing incident, but a loss of downforce didn’t help his day from there. Hamilton felt he would’ve been in the fight otherwise, but it’s difficult to know now.
Franco Colapinto: 7.5
After the high of performing a demo day in front of a huge home crowd in Buenos Aires, Colapinto secured his best ever result in Formula 1.
That did not come without its drama after contact with Hamilton on lap 1, but comfortably securing P8 will have done his confidence the world of good, which was later upped to seventh. To be explained…
Charles Leclerc: 7
What a rollercoaster of an afternoon Charles Leclerc had.
He led, fought tooth-and-nail with multiple cars at the front, questioned Ferrari stopping him (which proved the right call in the end), made some good moves and that all almost came undone with a spin on the final lap.
Doing well to wrestle his car to the line, a P6 finish is probably not what his afternoon deserved, and he gets a good mark for the early work on track. Even worse for him, though, was being demoted to P8 with a 20-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage too many times.
Carlos Sainz: 7
Made up four places from his starting position and probably his wisest move of the day came, oddly, from being overtaken.
Verstappen sent one up the inside at Turn 17 and ran quite deep while doing so, but Sainz just took that extra split-second to wait before turning in, so as to not compromise his race.
Two more points on the board for the Williams driver.
Alex Albon: 7
Made fantastic headway from the start line and kept Sainz behind before the Williams duo swapped places.
An enjoyable battle against Verstappen too, which he did not want to give up easily, and a first point of the season for Albon hopefully ease him into the rest of the year.
Oliver Bearman: 6
The Haas drivers had a battle through the Sprint on Saturday, and the two ran closely together through the race on Sunday as well.
Bearman put Albon under pressure for the final point late on, but he could not make a move stick.
Gabriel Bortoleto: 7
Unusual to give a driver outside the points this solid a mark but Bortoleto recovered from reliability issues earlier in the weekend to rise nine places in Miami.
With only two cars gathering data with the Audi power unit, Bortoleto emphasised the team “just need to be patient” over results, with regular points-scoring the aim.
Esteban Ocon: 6
Close to matching Bearman’s pace through the weekend, but Ocon felt there is more that can be done to get the most from the VF-26 moving forwards, with P13 the sum of his efforts.
This is the first weekend in which Haas hasn’t scored a point all season so far.
Arvid Lindblad: 5.5
Lindblad’s Q1 exit will not have done him too many favours in Miami, and finished in a one-place net deficit when retirements from cars in front were taken into account.
A lonely race on the whole otherwise, finishing 30 seconds behind the car in front, and 30 seconds ahead of the car behind.
Fernando Alonso: 6
Another case of doing what he could with what is underneath him, but another full-race distance will help Aston Martin in its quest to get to the bottom of how to improve.
A strong final stint saw him dice with Sergio Perez towards the end, and a move around the outside of Turn 17 won’t have been easy.
Sergio Perez: 6
Showed his shrewdness in combat by making up a few places at the start, but the Cadillac package is not yet competitive enough for him to compete further up the field.
Perez overtook Lindblad for P12 after the Safety Car restart, before the early pecking order levelled itself out later in the race.
Lance Stroll: 5
Like Alonso, completed the race and gathered more data, but Aston Martin and Cadillac look to be battling amongst themselves at the back of the field.
Valtteri Bottas: 5
Something of a testing session for Bottas in the end, who finished well behind the others – 80 seconds behind the next car in front in Stroll.
He tried different things with his Cadillac, which will help the team moving forward.
Did not finish
Nico Hulkenberg: 6
Bad luck all weekend for Hulkenberg, whose engine fire before the Sprint didn’t allow him to compete, before another early retirement in the race.
Another P11 grid slot prior to Hadjar’s DSQ was a sign of Audi knocking on the door of the points more regularly.
Liam Lawson: 5.5
Qualified well enough but was involved in a couple of early battles, and he revealed a sudden brake failure at the final hairpin is what sent him careering into Pierre Gasly.
With all ironed out between the two, there was not much he could seemingly do about his retirement.
Pierre Gasly: 6
Another strong showing for Alpine cut short, with Gasly a passenger as Lawson made contact at the final corner.
Another weekend, too, where we should be thankful for the Halo safety device having been put into place – that upside down flip before landing in the barriers at Turn 17 could have ended far worse.
Isack Hadjar: 4
The first weekend this season where the usual gulf between Verstappen and his Red Bull colleagues has been visible in Hadjar’s case.
P9 in qualifying was solid enough before his disqualification, but his exit from the race, collecting too much kerb at Turn 13, left him punching his steering wheel for quite some time afterwards, and for good reason.
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