Antonelli survives Miami madness for third straight F1 win

Antonelli began the 57-lapper from pole position but it was far from a straightforward win, with challenges from McLaren’s Lando Norris, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Ultimately, it was an undercut on Norris that paid dividends for Antonelli, who made quick work of last year’s champion following their compulsory pit stop before blasting by the off-strategy Verstappen.

With victory, Antonelli extended his lead in the world championship to a 20-point lead over teammate George Russell. Leclerc sits third, another 17 points back.

“The start was not as bad as yesterday, was a little bit better,” said Antonelli.

“I didn’t expect cars to brake that early so to avoid them obviously I locked up.

“I was a little bit lucky with what happened in Turn 2 and then I did a little mistake with energy management trying to overtake cars and then I lost the place to Lando.

“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 then managed to bring it home even though it was not easy.”

From third on the grid, Leclerc got a great getaway to challenge Antonelli and Verstappen entering Turn 1. They went three-wide and the Ferrari emerged in the lead as the Mercedes and Red Bull both locked up and ran off the road.

Exiting Turn 1, Verstappen lost control of his RB22 on his own, completing a full 360-degree spin. Luckily, he continued without being hit and dropped down to 10th.

At the end of Lap 1, it was Leclerc who led Antonelli, Norris, Piastri, and George Russell. At the back of the field, Nico Hulkenberg pitted his Audi R26 for a new nose.

Antonelli assumed the lead on Lap 4 at the Turn 17 hairpin, but a lap later Leclerc returned serve at Turn 11 to retake top spot.

There was drama on Lap 6 when Isack Hadjar crashed his Red Bull at Turn 14, clipping the inside of the concrete wall before ricocheting into the outside of Turn 15. That prompted an irate response from the Frenchman who furiously slammed his hands on the halo of his car.

Moments later, Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly collided at Turn 17. Gasly tried to go around the outside of Lawson, who seemed to have an issue with his car as the VCARB 03 struggled to slow down and stalled mid-corner.

Wheel-to-wheel contact between Lawson and Gasly tipped the Alpine A526 onto its side and upside down before landing the right way up, partially on top of the tyre barrier. Both cars were forced to retire.

As the Safety Car ws deployed, Verstappen pitted out of eighth for hard compound tyres and dropped to 16th.

Under the control of the Safety Car, Leclerc led Norris, Antonelli, Russell, and Piastri. Lewis Hamilton maintained sixth from Franco Colapinto, Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, and Ollie Bearman.

Racing resumed on Lap 12 with the threat of rain looming. Buried deep in the field, Verstappen began his charge on new tyres towards the top 10.

Piastri made the most of the restart with a pass around the outside of Russell at Turn 1 to give him the inside for Turn 2. The top three, meanwhile, skipped away by 1.5 seconds.

On Lap 13, Norris became the third different race leader at Turn 11. Moments later, Antonelli got by Leclerc at Turn 17. That was short-lived, however, as Leclerc got back by at Turn 1 on Lap 14.

Their battle gifted Norris a one-second buffer. Leclerc and Antonelli continued to war over second and on Lap 14 the Italian got back by at Turn 11.

Leclerc lost touch with Antonelli when he slid out of Turn 8 on Lap 17 and briefly lost third place to Piastri. Come Lap 19, Norris led Antonelli by 2.6s while Leclerc was 3.5s back.

Russell pitted out of fifth on Lap 20 to switch from the medium compound to the hard compound. Leclerc responded a lap later and suffered a slow pit stop to the tune of one second, which dropped him behind Russell.

Russell and Leclerc found themselves mired in the mid-pack, jockeying with the Haas and Williams drivers at the back end of the top 10.

With a 1.7s deficit to Norris, Antonelli pitted on Lap 26. Unsurprisingly, Norris pitted a lap later to cover off the Mercedes.

Norris exited the pit lane just centimetres in front of Antonelli, but with warm tyres the Mercedes blew by the McLaren through the esses.

Piastri briefly assumed the lead of the race before his pit stop on Lap 28. Verstappen, having completed his comeback dive from deep in the field, rose to first once Piastri pitted.

Crucially, on Lap 29, Antonelli cleared Verstappen for the lead at Turn 11 before the tight and twisty section. Verstappen fought hard to keep Norris at bay, but ultimately relinquished second at Turn 17. By then, Antonelli’s lead was out to 1.5 seconds.

Once everyone had completed their first pit stop, it was Antonelli from Norris and Verstappen. Leclerc dispatched Russell while Piastri was sixth, Hamilton seventh, Colapinto eighth, Gabriel Bortoletto ninth, and Sainz the last of the top 10 runners.

At the head of the field, Antonelli began to bemoan a lack of rear grip. Soon enough, his lead was under a second and Norris began piling pressure on Antonelli for the lead.

Verstappen’s podium looked like they were dashed on Lap 47 when Leclerc eased by the Dutchman into Turn 1, only to go around the Monegasque’s outside at Turn 4.

Leclerc completed the pass at Turn 11 for third, leaving Verstappen to fend off Piastri who had earlier dispatched Russell after the pit stops.

Inside the final 10 laps, Piastri slashed his two-second deficit to Leclerc. On the penultimate lap, the Australian got by Leclerc and moments later the Ferrari spun out of Turn 2 in a similar vein to Verstappen.

Leclerc looked to have suffered some damage in the spin as he limped back to the chequered flag. At that very moment, Russell was 14 seconds in arrears of Leclerc, but by the time they reached Turn 16 there was just a car length between them.

Russell navigated Leclerc around the outside at Turn 17 to steal fourth, while Verstappen got by at the final turn for fifth.

All told, it was Antonelli who won by 3.2 seconds over Norris while Piastri was 27 seconds in arrears in third.

Formula 1 continues its season with the Canadian Grand Prix on May 23-25.

Results: Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, Miami International Autodrome