Kimi Antonelli’s victory in Miami continued Mercedes’ unbeaten start to the 2026 season on Sunday, with the Silver Arrows taking four of the opening four grand prix wins of F1’s new rules era.
But that doesn’t mean the weekend in Miami went smoothly as Mercedes returned to racing after F1’s enforced five-week hiatus.
In the end, McLaren started the event with pole and win in a sprint format, ending Mercedes’ perfect start to the season with a competitive session, while Red Bull returned to the fray at the front and Ferrari also showed strong speed in the points for the weekend.
So the field was closed at the front? And what can we expect from the upcoming races?
Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull follow Mercedes with upgrades
Paddock stalwarts suggested the first race was akin to the start of a “new championship”, given the long time teams had back at the factory to prepare cars and upgrades for Miami.
Hopes that the event would even result in the early-season shuffling of the standings seen in the first three races in March were heightened after the FIA released its customary document outlining the teams’ vehicle changes for the weekend ahead of Friday’s practice.
Miami’s documents confirmed an unusually long list of changes across the 11-team grid, with a total of 64 new parts, 27 of which would be introduced across the grid’s “big four” teams all at once.
But while championship leaders Mercedes are waiting to launch bigger upgrades at the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix, having only introduced two updates to their previously unbeaten W16 car, their three main rivals were in full force with McLaren and Red Bull introducing seven new parts each and Ferrari leading the grid with 11.
And while the sheer number of upgrades a team brings to an event won’t ultimately determine a team’s competitiveness, the revisions initially seemed to have an immediate impact.
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Red Bull unveils brand new rotating rear wing during practice for Miami Grand Prix
In Friday’s sprint qualifying, Lando Norris became the first non-Mercedes driver to take pole position in 2026, while in Saturday’s sprint, world champion and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri comfortably won first and second respectively. Antonelli was fourth (before the post-race time penalty), and George Russell was fifth after being unwell all weekend at the Miami track, which he doesn’t like.
However, the chance to make set-up changes ahead of the Grand Prix session gave Mercedes a comeback, with Antonelli needing to put in a great lap at the start of Q3 to see off a rejuvenated Max Verstappen for Sunday’s pole position.
The in-form Italian won the Grand Prix again, but was pushed to the end by Norris. However, the gap was even greater after that, with Piastri in third place, 27 seconds behind, and the rest more than 40 seconds behind Antonelli.
Have we seen a change in the pecking order in Miami?
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella gave his thoughts on what this weekend really told us about the front picture after watching drivers achieve two-and-three finishes on Sunday following a sprint one-two.
“I think we’ve seen some changes in the competitive landscape because of the upgrades that a lot of teams have made in Miami,” he said.
“We have definitely seen McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull closing the gap (to Mercedes).
“I think execution is key throughout the lap. We saw a McLaren win in sprint qualifying, but the same car was on the grid for (Grand Prix) qualifying before. I think this has a lot to do with execution, optimization and adaptation.”
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Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli recovers from a difficult sprint to score his third consecutive Grand Prix pole position with a dominant lap in Miami
For the first time this season, Mercedes certainly failed to hit the ground running right away in Miami, with the team unable to resolve energy deployment and W16 set-up issues until the end of the sprint.
“I think Mercedes still has a few tenths of a second advantage over everyone else,” Stella added.
“This was most noticeable in the race and the sprints. In the first sprint section of the weekend it seemed like for some reason Mercedes wasn’t able to reach its full potential and the others had bigger upgrades than expected.
“But in reality, Mercedes just didn’t make the most of its potential.”
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2026 Miami Grand Prix Highlights
In a closely contested race for both drivers, Sunday marked the first time this season that Ferrari did not finish with a top three car in a Grand Prix or sprint race, despite the team topping the upgrade list for the weekend.
“In the clean air we had a good pace and were fighting at the front, but when we got into traffic it became even more difficult and consistency was the main issue,” said Frédéric Vasseur.
“There was a big difference in performance between the part where Charles (Leclerc) was leading and the second half of the race. It was a similar situation in the sprint, so we need to consider that.”
“But there are some positives to take from the weekend. We had a good start and the upgrades worked as expected. We know where we need to improve.”
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Charles Leclerc was given a 20 second penalty for cutting several corners on the final lap, resulting in the Ferrari driver spinning and damaging his car.
Red Bull achieved what Laurent Méquise described as a “decisive step forward” with its RB22, despite continuing to wait for its first podium of the year after Verstappen spun at the second corner, jeopardizing his race from the front row as he battled with Leclerc for the lead.
“We left Japan 1.2 seconds from the pole and China 1.0 seconds from the pole,” Mekies said.
“Everyone updated their cars because the competition wasn’t willing to wait for us to update. But certainly we knew we had to solve some issues in addition to the development race and we knew there was a lap time involved.
“So for us this weekend to be six tenths from pole position on Friday and less than two tenths from pole position on Saturday is a big indicator of how much progress we’ve made. I don’t know which numbers are correct, but compared to where we’ve been, it’s a lot better than what we’ve seen this year.”
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Watch new footage of Max Verstappen styling a 360-degree spin during Miami’s chaotic opening lap
Development competition continues in Canada
With another two-and-a-half weeks left before the next race weekend in Montreal, expect to see further upgrades across the grid at the Canadian Grand Prix, which takes place from May 22-24.
McLaren will bring a second round of updates from Miami, hoping to add a similar level of performance to last weekend.
Since 2023, McLaren has been the benchmark team in development, challenging for podiums from the back of the grid in the first half of the season and winning the constructors’ title in 2024 and 2025.
“The battle for development will be extremely important this season as four teams are in a position to compete for pole position and victory,” Stella said.
“We have a lot in the pipeline on our development path, with parts planned for Canada and some parts planned for Monaco and Spain as well. We are in the fight and believe this sets the stage for a very interesting championship battle for the fans and F1.”
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Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri reflect on their positive performance in Miami, where they both managed to reach the podium
All eyes will be on Mercedes, who have only introduced minor upgrades to Miami, but Antonelli was still able to remain unbeaten in this year’s Grands Prix.
Mercedes has long targeted Canada as a destination to introduce some major new items, with changes likely to be made to the car’s aerodynamics to increase downforce levels.
However, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is cautious that not all upgrades can be applied to the car and downplays the Silver Arrow’s performance potential.
“Sometimes the upgrades don’t correlate with the stopwatch, so we need to prove that. I hope we can do that,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“This season is going to be a developmental competition. How much volume can he bring? Are he limited by the cost cap? All of those things are going to play an important role.”
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Craig Slater guides Kimi Antonelli to Mercedes’ third straight victory at the Miami Grand Prix.
McLaren believes Mercedes held the advantage in Miami’s fast corners and will be hoping that gap does not widen.
Stella said: “If you look at the way the car behaves in the corners, they are faster than us. It’s mainly the fast corners that they are faster than us.”
“And in the race, if you look at the end of the first stint and the end of the last stint, Antonelli closed the gap in the first and widened the gap in the last stint. So all these factors show that Mercedes is the faster car.”
One team that has been able to match Mercedes in the turns is Ferrari, as the performance difference over McLaren is mainly on the straights.
Ferrari expects additional development and upgrade opportunities (ADUO) to improve the power unit’s performance.
ADUO is part of F1 rules specifically related to power units, giving the five manufacturers the possibility to improve their models if they are lagging behind benchmark performance.
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Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc share disappointment after difficult Miami Grand Prix
This scheme is awarded to manufacturers with performance reductions of 2% or more compared to mainstream internal combustion engines (ICE). Manufacturers with a 2-4% lead will be given one chance to develop their power units this season, while manufacturers with a 4% or more lead will be given two chances to improve.
Ahead of the season, the FIA announced that it would review the ICE’s performance at three points: after rounds 6, 12 and 18 of the 24 scheduled rounds.
In the current rescheduled calendar, following the cancellation of April’s Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs, those rounds are Monaco Grand Prix (June 5-7), Dutch Grand Prix (August 21-23) and Mexico City Grand Prix (October 30-November 1), without Round 24. However, the FIA is considering this schedule.
Red Bull will almost certainly not receive the ADUO and will continue to aim to benefit from chassis and aerodynamics. Their plans for Canada are unknown, but they are certainly moving in the right direction and cannot be ruled out of contention for a podium in Montreal.
F1 then heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and Sprint Weekend. Watch Sky Sports F1 live from 22nd to 24th May. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
