Kimi Antonelli won his third consecutive Grand Prix after leading the field at the Miami Grand Prix, despite a tough challenge from Norris.
The start of the race proved to be very chaotic, with Leclerc, Verstappen and Norris all challenging Antonelli for the lead, though Verstappen and Norris would each lock up heading into turn 1, leaving Leclerc to take first place.
Furthermore, Verstappen would spin around as he tried to re-join the track at turn 2, before then getting into some minor pieces of contact with other drivers as he tried to claw back as many positions as possible.
Further along in lap 1, Colapinto gave Hamilton some damage when trying to defend against an overtake from the Ferrari, which was something that would affect Hamilton’s performance for the rest of the race.
Both Mercedes drivers were aggressive early on as they tried to move back up the field, with Russell climbing up to 4th on lap 3, while Antonelli retook the lead on lap 4, though this wouldn’t last long as this year’s yo-yo racing would bring Leclerc back ahead shortly after.
There was an early safety car after multiple incidents took place on lap 6. Isack Hadjar had hit the wall at the chicane towards the end of sector 2, while Lawson would crash into Gasly at the last hairpin, taking them both out. Verstappen would opt to pit during this safety car period, going onto a set of hard tyres he would use for the rest of the race.
Leclerc would get off well upon the resumption of racing, but it wouldn’t be long before the race saw another race leader in Lando Norris, with the top 3 looking quite close together at first. However, Leclerc would begin to fade away as his tyres began to wear, which gave Norris a gap to Antonelli once the Mercedes driver was able to get back up to 2nd.
Back in fifth place, Russell would make his one and only pit stop of the race, attempting to undercut Leclerc ahead, who had since dropped to fourth place. Leclerc would reply with a pit stop just one lap later, but it was one lap too late, and Russell would take fourth for the time being.
The threat of rain had loomed over the race all day, and the mid point of the race appeared to show very light indications of it falling in sector 2, though there was absolutely no impact on the performance of the cars.
Antonelli would pit on lap 27, with Norris coming in just one lap later, but the McLaren driver would have a slightly slow stop, which was enough to bring Antonelli back in contention for the win at this point in the race, making an overtake for the lead on lap 29.
The race would enter into something of a quiet period as it got into the latter stages, with Antonelli beginning to manage the pace out front. There would continue to be some action though, such as Piastri overtaking Russell for fifth and Leclerc overtaking Verstappen for third place.
The last lap saw plenty of action though, as Leclerc would spin at turn 3 and drop from 3rd to 6th, while being beaten by Verstappen at the finish line in the fight for 5th place, all the while Russell ahead finished with a damaged front wing.
The win means that Antonelli extends his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship, 20 points ahead of teammate Russell in 2nd.
F1 goes on another small break before coming back in three weeks time for the Canadian Grand Prix, which will take place on May 24.
