Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed his third consecutive Grand Prix victory in Miami, extending his championship lead over George Russell.
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The race was brought forward by three hours to reduce the risk of rain and largely ran in dry conditions, aside from a brief shower shortly before the halfway mark.
The start produced drama when Charles Leclerc made a strong launch, slotting between pole-sitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen. As Leclerc braked precisely and forced the others wide, Verstappen applied too much throttle and spun in front of the pack.
Remarkably, the rest of the field avoided contact with Verstappen, leaving Antonelli to chase Leclerc with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri close behind. George Russell ran fifth while Lewis Hamilton was sixth after damaging his car in a clash with Franco Colapinto at turn 11 on the opening lap.
Unlike the sprint, which lacked the “yo-yo” battles seen earlier in the season, the Grand Prix quickly developed into a fluctuating fight for position. Antonelli and Leclerc swapped the lead twice, then Norris moved ahead of Russell into second. The sequence of position changes was interrupted by two crashes.
Isack Hadjar, starting from the pit lane on hard tyres, clipped the barrier at the tricky turn 14-15 chicane after passing Arvid Lindblad. Almost simultaneously, Pierre Gasly was collected when Liam Lawson locked up on the inside at turn 17; Gasly’s car rolled and came to rest on a barrier.
During the Safety Car period that followed, most of the leaders stayed out; only Verstappen pitted, which dropped him to the rear of the field. At the restart Leclerc led while Russell lost a place to Piastri after selecting the wrong strategy mode.
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Shortly after the restart Norris wrested the lead from Leclerc. The pendulum swung again as Leclerc and Antonelli resumed their back-and-forth battle for the front.
Mercedes began the mid-race pit sequence on lap 21 by bringing Russell in. Ferrari responded by pitting Leclerc the following lap, but a slow stop and Russell’s strong out-lap saw Leclerc lose a position to the Mercedes driver. Both also ended up behind Verstappen, who had made rapid progress through the field.
When Mercedes later called Antonelli for his stop, Norris followed on the next lap but rejoined behind his rival. Norris and Antonelli then navigated past Verstappen—Norris briefly oscillating around the Red Bull—which returned Antonelli to the front.
With Verstappen’s tyres deteriorating, he began to drop back and came under pressure from Leclerc and later Piastri. With ten laps remaining the yo-yo exchanges resumed: Leclerc passed at turn one, Verstappen fought back at turn four, and Leclerc reclaimed the place at turn 11.
As Verstappen slid down the order his tyre life became a liability and Piastri eventually passed him, moving the McLaren driver up the order.
Three laps from the end Russell closed on Verstappen and launched an attack that led to contact approaching turn one, leaving Russell with a damaged front wing. Despite the damage, Russell recovered to overtake Verstappen again.
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Meanwhile Piastri completed a clean pass on Leclerc. The Ferrari then suffered a mistake similar to Verstappen’s earlier spin: Leclerc spun and clipped the barrier as he rejoined, leaving his car damaged.
Leclerc’s compromised pace allowed both Verstappen and Russell to close at the end of the final lap. Russell attacked at turn 17 and made contact while passing; Verstappen narrowly beat Leclerc to the line by two-tenths of a second.
Antonelli’s victory was comparatively smooth, while Norris was left visibly disappointed at missing the chance to convert his weekend into a double win. Piastri joined Norris on the podium, with Russell finishing fourth despite the late contact—an incident that will be investigated, as will Verstappen’s alleged pit lane exit infringement. Leclerc dropped to sixth ahead of team mate Hamilton, with Colapinto and the Williams drivers rounding out the points.
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