The 2026 Miami Grand Prix Reacp

It is time to race at the Miami International Autodrome, a circuit that’s a mix of street and track that makes the stakes more interesting. After a 5 week hiatus it’s good to be back racing.

This race week brings a lot of change. Every team except Aston Martin has introduced performance upgrades across floors, wings, sidepods and more, making this less about outright pace and more about understanding where everyone truly stands.

Table of Contents

1. **The 2026 Miami Grand Prix Reacp**
2. **Regulation Changes**
3. **Special Suits and Liveries**
4. **Sprint Race**
5. **Qualifying ** • Key Moments
6. **Race ** • Key Moments
7. **Mercedes**
8. **McLaren**
9. **Red Bull**
10. **Ferrari**
11. **Alpine**
12. **Williams**
13. **Haas**
14. **Audi**
15. **Racing Bulls**
16. **Aston Martin**
17. **Cadillac**
18. **Racing With the Regulations**
19. **Final Thoughts**

Regulation Changes

We have major changes introduced by the FIA based on the first three races, aiming to address issues like superclipping and race starts.

The idea is paradoxical but intentional:

• Higher superclipping limit → allows cars to harvest more energy at full throttle, preventing early lift-off.
• Reduced total harvest per lap → forces more aggressive braking and limits excessive energy management.

The goal is to make closing speeds more controlled and predictable.

For race starts, a new low power detection system has been introduced. Previously, cars (notably Red Bull) could lose deployment off the line due to turbo lag, leaving them dangerously slow.

Now:

• The system detects low power instantly
• The MGU-K steps in to bring the car up to a minimum safe speed
• Surrounding drivers are alerted via flashing signals

It doesn’t restore full performance but it prevents cars from becoming sitting ducks.

Due to the extent of these changes, the practice session was extended to two hours to accommodate the additional adjustments and understanding required.

Special Suits and Liveries

This race weekend also brought a visual shift, with some teams leaning into the Miami setting through special liveries and race suits.

Racing Bulls led the way with a summer-themed livery inspired by the Red Bull Summer edition, featuring bright yellow accents that stood out perfectly under the Miami sun.

Cadillac marked their first home race with a special livery built around the American flag, leaning fully into the occasion.

Mercedes opted for special race suits rather than a livery change. The purple suits are meant to signify the Miami vibe, though visually they come off closer to the purple minions from Despicable Me 2. Paired with Racing Bulls’ yellow, it turns the grid into a bit of a minion playground.

Racing Bulls (Up) and Cadillac (Bottom) sepcial liveries. Image via Visa Cashapp Racing Bulls F1 on X and Cadillac F1 on X.

Sprint Race

A thrilling Sprint that despite being boring gave us glimpse of what the main race held

Check it out Here : https://medium.com/@beyondmebtw/the-2026-miami-sprint-race-recap-a3bd609a59f9

Qualifying

Key Moments

• Kimi Antonelli secures his third consecutive pole with a lap of 1:27.798, while teammate George Russell settles for P5
• Max Verstappen follows up a strong Q2 by qualifying P2, lining up on the front row with a real shot into Turn 1
• Leclerc puts in a solid lap for P3, with Hamilton starting P6 alongside him
• The McLaren duo take a step back from their sprint showing as Norris manages P4, while Piastri drops to P7
• Franco Colapinto makes his first-ever Q3 appearance, qualifying P8, with Gasly in P10 to round off a strong showing for Alpine

Post qualifying Isack Hadjar was disqualified for a technical infringement but allowed to race. He started from the pitlane as his car was modified under parc ferme conditions.

Final Qualifying Classification:

Race

The race was originally scheduled to begin at its normal start time, but due to concerns over incoming thunderstorms, the start was delayed by three hours. Despite that it never actually rained, not during the delayed start, nor at the original scheduled time.

Key Moments

• Leclerc launched brilliantly off the line and was into P1 within seconds. Antonelli ran wide at Turn 1, while Verstappen, attempting to stay close to Leclerc, lost grip and spun, dropping all the way down to P9.
• By the end of Lap 4, Antonelli reclaimed the lead, though he would lose it again on the following lap.
• Lap 5 brought two major incidents that triggered the safety car. Isack Hadjar clipped the wall at Turn 14, lost control, and crashed into the barriers. Meanwhile, at Turn 17, Liam Lawson attempted a move on the inside of Pierre Gasly but clipped him, sending Gasly into a flip before crashing out. The safety car remained out until Lap 12.
• During the safety car period, Lawson retired with a gearbox issue, while Nico Hülkenberg also retired due to a mechanical problem.
• On Lap 12, as the safety car came in, Leclerc timed the restart well and held the lead. Verstappen, having pitted just before the safety car, had fallen to P16. The order stood as Leclerc, Norris, and Antonelli, while Piastri made a successful move to take P4 from Russell.
• On Lap 13, Norris overtook Leclerc for the race lead.
• Lap 14 saw Antonelli take P3 away from Leclerc.
• Russell pitted on Lap 21, followed by Leclerc on Lap 22. By then, Verstappen had already climbed back to P5, leaving Russell and Leclerc down in P11 and P12 respectively.
• On Lap 27, Verstappen overtook Hamilton for P4, while Antonelli pitted from P2.
• Norris and Hamilton stopped on Lap 28. Piastri briefly inherited the lead, but as Norris exited the pits, Antonelli managed to jump ahead of him.
• On Lap 29, Antonelli overtook Verstappen to retake the lead, while later in the lap Norris also passed Verstappen for P2.
• On Lap 47, Leclerc overtook Verstappen for P3.
• Two laps later, Piastri also got past Verstappen for P4.
• At the end of Lap 56, Piastri successfully overtook Leclerc while fighting for position. Leclerc attempted to respond immediately, but at Turn 3 he spun and clipped the wall. Though he continued, the damage to his front-left suspension left him vulnerable. Russell and Verstappen caught and passed him just before the flag, with Russell crossing the line in P4 despite carrying front wing damage himself.

As the chequered flag waved, the young maestro Kimi Antonelli stormed to his third Formula 1 victory, making it three consecutive wins. Lando Norris, who claimed his maiden victory at this circuit, finished second, while Oscar Piastri completed the podium in a strong third place.

Post-race, Verstappen received a five-second penalty for crossing the white line at pit exit, though it did not affect his final classification.

Leclerc was handed a drive-through penalty, later converted into a 20-second time penalty, for repeatedly leaving the track without justifiable reason during the final lap, dropping him from P6 to P8.

Mercedes

Despite not being outright dominant, Mercedes fought like hell this weekend. Antonelli stunned once again, taking his third consecutive victory, and honestly, it’s incredible to watch. I genuinely don’t understand how he keeps losing positions at the start and still ends up winning races, but while the car is doing its part, he is showing some serious talent behind the wheel.

George Russell, the man many expected to lead the championship, has suddenly fallen behind and now sits nearly a full race win adrift of Antonelli. I’m genuinely baffled by what’s happened. The car is still competitive, so is Russell simply struggling to adapt? Right now, there really isn’t enough to properly analyze. His early pit stop also made little sense considering only he and Leclerc committed to it expecting rain that never came, ultimately compromising their races. He still recovered from P5 to finish P4.

Overall, it was still a strong weekend for Mercedes. Compared to previous races they looked slower, but they maximized what they had instead of letting that define the weekend. With Canada next, a circuit where both Mercedes and Russell have been strong and major upgrades reportedly on the way, things could get very interesting. Unless you dislike Mercedes, in which case you’re probably preparing the complaints already.

Kimi Antonelli with his P1 trophy after finishing P1 at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix. Image via Mercedes AMG F1 on X.

McLaren

The reigning champions are finally starting to back up the talk, though there are still small signs of inconsistency.

Lando Norris won the sprint and followed it up with P2 in the main race after starting P4, which is a genuinely strong result. Whether he can defend the title, though, I honestly have no clue. We’ve raced so little this season that it somehow already feels like forever ago since the opener.

Oscar Piastri has now gone two-for-two with podium finishes this season. He drove another composed race and, unlike several others around him, has consistently made the most of every opportunity available. He climbed from P7 to finish P3, and right now he’s quietly building serious momentum.

Lando norris (Left) and Oscar Piastri (Right) during the podium celebrations for the 2026 Miami Grand Prix. Image via Mclaren F1 on X.

Red Bull

Isack Hadjar had the worst weekend of the lot. Disqualified from qualifying, forced to start from the pit lane, and then watching the entire race unravel almost immediately. He also looked off the pace throughout the race itself, though whether that comes down to the track, setup, or the car remains to be seen.

Max Verstappen, meanwhile, somehow turned disaster into damage limitation once again. And honestly, he’s having a rough stretch not just in Formula 1, but even in endurance racing.

He got a strong launch and initially held P2, but one moment of overcommitment on throttle sent everything spiralling, dropping him deep into the field. Despite that, he drove like a champion. He carved his way back from P16 to briefly lead the race, eventually finishing P5 after running an absurd 51 laps on the hard tyre. Honestly, the tyres must be made from diamonds because what the hell was that.

Still, it ends up being a positive weekend overall. He was racing aggressively, staying competitive, and making life difficult for everyone around him, which suggests Red Bull may not be in as bad a place as it initially seemed.

As for his endurance outings, the luck somehow gets worse. Across NLS2, NLS5, and the Nürburgring 24 Hours, he has shown front-running pace in all three. Yet NLS2 ended in disqualification, NLS5 dropped him to P39 due to repairs, and a mechanical failure while leading the Nürburgring 24 Hours left him classified down in P19.

Ferrari

Well, well, welcome back. Another Ferrari disasterclass, and honestly even that feels like an understatement.

There was absolutely no reason to pit Leclerc when they did. Even if rain had arrived, everyone else would have boxed eventually anyway, meaning Leclerc would still have remained in a comfortable position. Instead, Ferrari reacted to weather that never came while almost nobody else committed, and both drivers paid for it.

Leclerc suffered the most. Poor strategy, late-race damage, then a penalty to finish things off. The frustrating part is that he genuinely had the pace all weekend and looked capable of fighting for victory before everything disappeared down a storm drain that stayed completely dry because, once again, it never rained.

Hamilton, meanwhile, looked stranded all race long. No real fights, no progression, barely any movement at all. He simply stayed where he started, bringing the car home in P6 from P6.

Alpine

Honestly, not the worst day for Alpine. Usually both cars find a way out of the race, so only losing one counts as progress. Gasly’s crash was a genuinely scary moment, though thankfully he walked away okay.

Click Here to see Gasly’s incident.

Colapinto, on the other hand, finally fully planted his foot down. He produced some genuinely exciting moments, fought well throughout the race, and converted it into points with a climb from P8 to P7. Encouraging signs from him overall.

Gasly’s car flipping. Image via Pierre Gasly on Instagram.

Williams

A double points finish for the woefully suffering Williams team.

After a season start where everything that could go wrong seemingly did, finally coming away with points is massive for them. More importantly, they didn’t just luck into it, they fought hard for those positions.

Both drivers battled aggressively through the field and even had to deal with Verstappen charging through at one stage, yet they held their own impressively.

Sainz climbed from P13 to P9, while Albon recovered from P15 to P10.

Haas

A decent showing for the American team at their first home race. Bearman finished P11 from P12, while Ocon brought the car home in P13 from P14.

Audi

Hülkenberg retired, but Bortoleto delivered a strong recovery drive from P21 to P12.

Racing Bulls

Lawson retired, while Lindblad finished P14 from P16.

Aston Martin

Alonso finished P15 from P17, while Stroll recovered from P28 to P17.

Cadillac

Perez finished P16 from P20, while Bottas came home P18 from P19.

Final Race Results:

Racing With the Regulations

Despite the sprint being painfully dull, the main race was actually fun. Miami usually suffers from stale racing because of how these cars behave around the circuit, but this time there was genuine movement throughout the field. Overtakes were happening everywhere, and for once it actually felt engaging to watch.

That said, I still think the updated regulations need refinement. The planned 2027 split moving toward a 60/40 ICE-to-battery ratio feels like a step in the right direction, but even within the current season there’s still room for improvement.

Personally, I think energy limits should vary depending on the circuit. It’s complicated, sure, but tracks like Monza having almost no meaningful harvesting zones only forces drivers into braking ridiculously early, which completely defeats the purpose of a circuit built around speed.

The technology is still evolving and teams are constantly finding new solutions, so time will ultimately decide how effective this era and these regulations really are.

For now though, I’m still optimistic.

Final Thoughts

Yes, this one is about two weeks late, but in my defense there was also a three-week gap between races, so I used that as an excuse to procrastinate.

The good news is that it’s finally race week again, and hopefully we get fewer breaks moving forward because occasionally I genuinely forget Formula 1 exists when the gaps get this long.

The race itself ended up being really fun. Delaying the start was great for me personally because I didn’t have to stay awake till late hours, but the fact that it still never rained remains deeply annoying.

Miami keeps threatening chaos every single year and then delivers absolutely nothing. Sprint sessions have seen rain before, but the main race? Not a single drop. At this point I’m convinced everyone involved in weather prediction is lying to us. I understand coastal storms are unpredictable and the risks are real, but surely one accurate rain forecast isn’t too much to ask for.

Nevertheless, we now head north to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix.

See you there.

This post includes images from Formula 1 broadcasts and social media platforms. These images are used under fair use for educational and commentary purposes. No copyright infringement is intended.