The team’s result came just a day after the former Formula 1 driver and two-time CART champion passed away at the age of 59, ending a career that left a lasting mark across global motorsport and Paralympic sport.
Speaking after the race, team principal Andrea Stella honoured his fellow Italian before reflecting on the result.
“A one-two, but before we talk about that allow me please to remember and pay tribute to Alex Zanardi,” he told Sky Sports.
“A very special man. Driver. Athlete. A real symbol and example for what it means to love life.
“An inspiration for everyone. So this victory is for him.”
On track, Lando Norris led home teammate Oscar Piastri in a commanding display to end Mercedes’ unbeaten start to the 2026 season.
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Stella said the performance also confirmed the team’s latest upgrades were delivering as hoped, particularly across a race run in hot conditions.
“Having said that, yeah, it’s good to start races. It’s good to start sprints. It’s good to bring upgrades so that we can become more and more competitive,” he said.
“It was important to confirm that the upgrades work. Like we’ve seen yesterday over a single lap, today was important to see them in long runs and even hot conditions.”
He added that tyre behaviour had been an unknown heading into the sprint, but early signs were encouraging.
“Nobody knew exactly what the degradation would have been, but it looks like the car has retained good characteristics from a degradation point of view,” Stella explained.
:So good indications so far, but everyone is very close.”
Despite the margin of victory, Stella cautioned the field remains tightly packed heading into qualifying.
“I think Lando might have benefitted from being the lead car in clean air,” he said.
“Possibly whoever was the first today, could’ve won the sprint.
“So I think everyone is close, and we will see more in a few hours in qualifying.”
Qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix begins at 4pm local time (6am AEST).
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