Kimi Antonelli has taken victory in an action packed Miami Grand Prix, the Italian resisting pressure from Lando Norris to seal his third consecutive win of the season.
A dramatic start ensued when the race got underway, with polesitter Antonelli facing a three-way scrap alongside Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc before both the Mercedes and Red Bull cars locked up into the first corner.
Verstappen then dropped down the order after spinning out shortly after.
The lead changed hands numerous times from there, with Antonelli later taking over Leclerc while Norris, Oscar Piastri and Verstappen all enjoyed stints at the front.
Separate crashes for Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, saw the Safety Car deployed in the opening laps.
But it would ultimately prove to be a two-horse battle between Antonelli and Norris as the race wore on, the McLaren remaining on the tail of the former during the latter stages.
Despite that tension, Antonelli held on to score his third victory of the campaign, making history as the first driver to convert their maiden three pole positions into wins.
The full top 10 are- P1: Antonelli, P2: Norris, P3: Piastri, P4: Russell, P5: Verstappen, P6: Hamilton, P7: Colapinto, P8: Leclerc, P9: Sainz and P10: Albon.
What a result for Antonelli, unfortunate he locked up at the start, but he kept his Mercedes out of trouble and had a little fight with the McLaren of Lando Norris but managed to come out on top. P4 for Russell, after late battles with Verstappen and Leclerc.
McLaren’s have improved massively! Great to see them fighting at the top again, Norris especially with Antonelli and then Piastri being there waiting to see if he can capitalise on anyone’s mistake which he was able to and the team came home with a double podium!
5th for Verstappen, with a 5 second time penatly, which I do think he was very lucky to only get that, as some of his moves were a bit controversial… As for his teammate, Hadjar, a weekend to forget, from being disqualified in qualifying and then crashing out the race at Turn 14, he will want to keep his eyes focused on the next round.
As for the Ferrari’s, unfortunate for Hamilton to get damage with Colapinto at the start, but he did well to manage it and still finish 6th, so some decent points considering. As for his teammate, Leclerc had a 20 second time penalty for leaving the track on multiple occasions and got dropped down to 8th, not good at all, considering the McLaren’s and Red Bull’s have improved since the start of the season.
Colapinto finished 7th! A great result for the Alpine man, he deserved a points finish after having a great weekend, qualifying well!
A double points finish for Williams rounds out the top 10! A good result for the team, they capitalised on others not finishing and keeping themselves out of trouble.
The start was not as bad as yesterday – it was a little bit better. I didn’t expect Charles to brake that early, so to avoid him I locked up. I was a bit lucky with what happened in Turn 2. I did a little mistake with the energy management, trying to overtake Charles, then I lost a place to Lando. But then the pace was strong, I was able to stay close, and then the team did a great strategy. We did a massive undercut, and we managed to bring it home, even though it was not easy.
Antonelli on the win.
Now next up, we have a little break (but not too long) as we head to Canada for Round 5 on May 22nd – 24th and it is another sprint race!
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