Miami GP: Martin Brundle’s verdict on F1 power unit regulation adjustments, ‘genius’ Max Verstappen’s spin recovery and Kimi Antonelli’s ‘magic’ | F1 News

The 2026 Miami Grand Prix was a very important event for F1. The season-opening three races in Australia, China and Japan were interesting and engaging in some places, and unpleasantly controversial in others, as the dramatically revised new cars struggled to gel.

Key drivers and other observers were surprisingly prepared to spoil the show. The forced hiatus due to the Middle East conflict could not have come at a worse time, always remembering that we are a sport and the loss of lives and livelihoods is nothing compared to the loss of lives and livelihoods.

The downtime is used to fine-tune the complex power delivery of modern machines, essentially making the power from the engine and battery combination more evenly shared over a given lap and reducing the potentially significant approach speeds of car and driver with different power strategies.

Miami has always been easier than other circuits when it comes to charging the all-important but barely enough battery storage, but the small tweaks to the technical rules were clearly a step in the right direction. The drivers seemed much happier overall, with the car looking fast and lively and with plenty of grip on corner exit.

And it was spared much of the effort of the engine losing the battle to the kinetic motor, which was busy charging the battery well before the end of the straight.

Miami was one of six sprint weeks this season, so I was able to enjoy the only specially extended 90-minute practice session trackside.

During the 19-lap sprint itself, I was worried that I might have done too much smoothing. Apart from some early skirmishes, particularly after Kimi Antonelli had another poor start from pole position, everything quickly settled into a reasonably dominant one-two between Lando Norris in Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and Oscar Piastri’s McLaren duo.

McLaren and Ferrari had made a slew of updates planned for the event, which will be highly visible across the grid this season, but with George Russell in a relatively distant fourth place and Kimi Antonelli in sixth due to a track limits penalty, the world looked on as if Mercedes’ early-season dominance was over.

With so many new parts, qualifying for the main race to take place a few hours later, and a wet race virtually assured, the drivers were clearly paying attention, but with limited spare parts, they were no doubt under tight team instructions. Thankfully the main race will be a completely different story.

Verstappen’s recovery spin was ‘genius’

Kimi Antonelli once again showed his Miami magic and once again took pole position. He loves this track layout as much as his teammate George Russell hates it. Strangely, as the track became more rubbery and the wind changed direction, the two McLarens struggled, and although they had been in the lead a few hours earlier, they were only tied for fourth and seventh.

Max Verstappen was in the front row alongside Antonelli, and was very happy, saying lines like “I think we’ve cut the deficit in half” and “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The race was moved up by three hours as heavy rain and thunderstorms were definitely in the forecast. In the United States, if there is thunder or lightning nearby, all sporting events are legally required to be immediately canceled and all spectators and participants must be evacuated, which means that grandstands and marshall posts, as well as cars and pit lanes, must be evacuated. It’s a tough job in front of such a large audience.

When I arrived at 7:30am, I was completely on board with the idea. In the neighborhood, a spectacular lightning bolt was falling and making a loud noise, along with the rain falling in steps. Despite having an umbrella, I was full of socks and underwear by the time I got to the TV venue. Eventually the rain subsided, then stopped, and of course it never rained again…

Despite pole sitter Antonelli getting a decent start this time, Charles Leclerc’s fast-starting Ferrari, which started from 3rd on the grid on dry roads, ended up alongside Max Verstappen as he exited Turn 1.

At the apex of Turn 2, Verstappen was pinched by Leclerc and pressed too hard on the accelerator, sending him into a loop, a rare mistake for Verstappen, and he hastily apologized to his team over the radio. Before that, we saw some of his genius in recovery.

In front of the pack, with the exception of Leclerc, he managed to maintain forward speed while expertly using the throttle, brakes and steering wheel to turn 360 degrees and orient himself onto the racetrack. I can’t tell you how difficult it is in a big F1 car full of fuel in the heat of battle. This dramatically minimized the possibility of contact and allowed him to maintain 9th place at the end of the lap.

Desperate to recover, he got into a number of skirmishes with the midfield, scraping wheels. Red Bull had to run to the end on new hard compound tires on lap seven after two separate incidents brought out the safety car.

First, Isaac Hajjar clipped the apex wall of Turn 14, crashed into the second wall and slammed the steering wheel in frustration, immediately retiring. Moments later, Pierre Gasly, in his Alpine, raced around the outside of Liam Lawson’s struggling racing bull. It was a legal move and left Gasly with plenty of space, but Lawson was having problems with his gearbox and would run wide and flip Gasly completely into the tire barrier.

Antonelli’s victory

The front leaders chose not to pit early under the safety car and we were treated to a fierce battle between Leclerc, Antonelli and Norris, with many places changing hands. The Italian teenager looked very fast in his Mercedes, so when he took the lead on lap four, I predicted in the commentary that he would “check out” and that he would build up the lead.

But that’s the story of the ex-F1, and by lap six he was back in third place and, to be honest, I couldn’t fully understand why. This is clearly about power management, and once you’re in the lead, you lose the “overtaking mode” that provides more battery charge and top speed for longer periods of time, making you more likely to be chased back unless you’re more than a second ahead of your pursuers.

It was explained that the overtake would not actually be completed until the end of the lap, as you might be greedy with power to gain position, but you would pay the price later. I fully understand that too. Rather, I like wheel-to-wheel action and the skill of being faster than and outsmarting your rivals.

Subsequent laps require more understanding and better graphics and information, as it is relatively easy to go back in time. I’ll try to organize it.

After the safety car restart, the race became a two-horse race between championship leader Antonelli and current world champion Norris, resulting in a tense and extremely intense race. And at the end of lap 26 Mercedes cut the ace card, bringing Antonelli in for his only stop. With a quick turnaround and great speed, Antonelli returned to the track, giving him the lead at the next pit stop when McLaren pitted Norris. Classic undercut.

The two-horse race lasted until the checkered flag, but Antonelli gained important track positions and maintained control and speed for his third consecutive and very lucrative victory.

Norris was very understandably disappointed, as this could easily be recorded as a runaway victory.

It was great fun watching them both catch up and pass Verstappen, who refused to give up an inch even though he needed tires to get through the final 50 laps.

Dejected Leclerc relieved by Williams

This counter strategy to help Max recover from his first lap spin also made him vulnerable to the rapidly closing in Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and George Russell. They noticed that the Mercedes suddenly behaved better on the track with increased grip and was using less fuel.

Piastri overtook Leclerc on the penultimate lap and will be aiming for the final podium spot. Charles was submissive, believing his Ferrari had the power to push the young Australian back on the final lap.

Sadly for Leclerc, he spun and hit the barriers, damaging his car and dragging his way across the line, only to be handed a 20-second penalty at the chicane cut of the final Tour in a desperate and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to stay in front of Russell and Verstappen. Leclerc will be classified in 8th place as depressed.

Russell moved into fourth place despite being 43 seconds behind his teammate and championship leader Antonelli, while Verstappen took fifth despite receiving a five-second penalty for crossing the pit lane exit line a bit early.

Lewis Hamilton finished a strangely uncompetitive 6th place in his Ferrari, while Franco Colapinto was held back in 7th place in what was his most convincing, and very timely, F1 event to date.

Williams had a stronger race with both drivers scoring points and leading laps, with Carlos Sainz in 9th and Alex Albon in 10th. That will give the team some peace of mind.

As such, five different leaders exchanged the lead numerous times and experienced two significant overtakes in the final two corners of the race. It was a great show that was very timely and had a huge audience. There is no doubt that each team will continue to gather together with a detailed understanding and understanding of these regulations. Please come to Montreal.

F1 then heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and another sprint weekend. Watch Sky Sports F1 live from 22nd to 24th May. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract