Having been Mercedes’ closest threat through the first three rounds, Ferrari arrived in Miami hoping their upgrade package would close the gap further. Instead, rivals McLaren and Red Bull appeared to make even larger gains. Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed pole for Mercedes, leaving Ferrari down the order as the fourth-fastest team overall.
Sector times
Charles Leclerc recorded the third-quickest time in Saturday’s qualifying session, but his best lap of 1’28.143 was slower than the fastest times set by both McLaren drivers during Friday’s sprint qualifying. Leclerc may have had more to find—his sector splits suggest potential—but not enough to match Lando Norris’s 1’27.869 from Friday.
Changing wind conditions made consistent improvements difficult across the session. Antonelli was the only front-runner to combine his best sector times into a single lap. Fewer than half the drivers in Q3 improved on their final runs.
| P. | # | Driver | S1 | S2 | S3 | Ultimate lap (deficit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 29.743 (1) | 33.431 (7) | 24.624 (1) | 1’27.798 |
| 2 | 3 | Max Verstappen | 30.072 (7) | 33.172 (1) | 24.646 (2) | 1’27.890 (+0.074) |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | 29.861 (3) | 33.339 (4) | 24.744 (5) | 1’27.944 (+0.199) |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | 29.806 (2) | 33.500 (8) | 24.661 (3) | 1’27.967 (+0.230) |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | 29.907 (4) | 33.402 (6) | 24.743 (4) | 1’28.052 (+0.267) |
| 6 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | 29.945 (5) | 33.248 (2) | 24.877 (11) | 1’28.070 (+0.262) |
| 7 | 1 | Lando Norris | 30.053 (6) | 33.258 (3) | 24.814 (7) | 1’28.125 (+0.058) |
| 8 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | 30.272 (11) | 33.398 (5) | 24.849 (10) | 1’28.519 (+0.270) |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | 30.194 (8) | 33.640 (10) | 24.804 (6) | 1’28.638 (+0.172) |
| 10 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | 30.247 (10) | 33.624 (9) | 24.829 (8) | 1’28.700 (+0.062) |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | 30.216 (9) | 33.875 (16) | 25.134 (17) | 1’29.225 (+0.214) |
| 12 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | 30.728 (15) | 33.723 (11) | 24.843 (9) | 1’29.294 (+0.046) |
| 13 | 30 | Liam Lawson | 30.530 (12) | 33.810 (15) | 24.998 (14) | 1’29.338 (+0.161) |
| 14 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 30.677 (14) | 33.763 (13) | 24.984 (13) | 1’29.424 (+0.116) |
| 15 | 23 | Alexander Albon | 30.595 (13) | 33.748 (12) | 25.111 (16) | 1’29.454 (+0.266) |
| 16 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | 30.786 (16) | 33.795 (14) | 25.055 (15) | 1’29.636 (+0.136) |
| 17 | 41 | Arvid Lindblad | 30.913 (17) | 34.176 (18) | 24.951 (12) | 1’30.040 (+0.093) |
| 18 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | 31.073 (18) | 34.061 (17) | 25.686 (21) | 1’30.820 (+0.278) |
| 19 | 11 | Sergio Perez | 31.197 (20) | 34.530 (19) | 25.292 (18) | 1’31.019 (+0.948) |
| 20 | 18 | Lance Stroll | 31.125 (19) | 34.539 (20) | 25.423 (19) | 1’31.087 (+0.077) |
| 21 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | 31.243 (21) | 34.756 (21) | 25.630 (20) | 1’31.629 |
| 22 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 31.944 (22) | 34.988 (22) | 26.805 (22) | 1’33.737 |
Teams’ performance
Mercedes briefly dropped to the second-fastest team on Friday but reclaimed top spot on Saturday when McLaren could not replicate their earlier form. With under four tenths of a second separating the top four teams, the championship battle remains tightly contested.
Notably, Mercedes was the only team among the leading quartet that did not bring a major upgrade in Miami; the team plans to introduce a significant update at the next round.
Field performance
Under F1’s revised regulations, lap times in Miami were roughly 1.5 seconds slower than last year. However, the current cars ran about a second quicker per lap than when ground-effect regulations debut at this track, aided in part by resurfacing work carried out between the early events.
The overall field shows a mix of improvements and remaining gaps as teams adapt to updated aero and power unit demands. Track resurfacing, changing wind conditions and differing upgrade strategies all influenced lap-time variance throughout the weekend.
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2026 Miami Grand Prix
Related coverage from this event includes race statistics, technical and strategic analysis, and driver reactions across multiple articles. Browse the Miami Grand Prix section for more reports and insights into this weekend’s action.