(Photo by Alastair Staley/LAT Images)

F1 Review: Kimi Antonelli Magnificent in Miami, Takes Third Straight

by

Pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli once again struggled at the start, but steadied himself to take charge midway through the race and held off a resurgent Lando Norris to win the Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix on Sunday (May 3rd). Antonelli and Mercedes executed a successful undercut to snatch the lead from Norris in the pits, and the reigning world champion was left mildly disappointed with his runner-up finish. 

“The start was not as bad as yesterday – it was a little bit better,” said Antonelli. “I didn’t expect Charles to brake that early, so to avoid him I locked up. I was a bit lucky with what happened in Turn 2. I did a little mistake with the energy management, trying to overtake Charles, then I lost a place to Lando. But 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 we managed to bring it home, even though it was not easy.”

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri pulled off a last-lap pass of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to hand McLaren a double-podium result. Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen both slid past Leclerc’s compromised Ferrari to take fourth and fifth, respectively, even with the Dutchman taking fifth after overcoming a first-lap spin. 

Leclerc’s sixth-place finish had to feel disappointing, as the Ferrari was staring at a podium before it all collapsed, with Piastri’s charge preceding a late Leclerc spin that left his car with a slight limp as it had issues navigating right-hand turns. Leclerc was later given a 20-second penalty for numerous violations, namely leaving the track and gaining an advantage, after his spin, and fell to eighth.

Verstappen was given a post-race time penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit, but his fifth-place finish remained intact because of Leclerc’s more stringent penalty.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished sixth ahead of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, as both survived first-lap contact with each other. The Williams Racing duo of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon finished ninth and 10th, respectively. 

In the driver standings, Antonelli leads Russell 100 to 80, with Leclerc third with 63 points.

In the constructors standings, Mercedes’ lead over Ferrari is a hefty 68 points, 180 to 112. McLaren whacked 26 points off of Ferrari’s second-place lead, and nows sits in third with 94 points. 

The Race

Slow starts for Antonelli and Verstappen opened the door for Leclerc to zip into the lead, as Verstappen and Antonelli locked up in Turn 1 trying to recover. The situation became more chaotic when Verstappen lost the back end going into Turn 2 and did a 360-degree spin, but avoided contact from the onrushing field. The Red Bull dropped to 10th, while Leclerc and Antonelli battled up front.

Near simultaneous accidents by Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly brought out the safety car on lap 6. Verstappen was the only car to pit and took a set of hard tires, intending to run the rest of the way on them.  

Green flag racing resumed on lap 12, with the threat of a small shower looming over the circuit, and decision-making race strategists. Although predicted by many teams, rain never materialized at any point during the race.

The McLarens were the last to pit, and after pit stops cycled through, Verstappen held the lead, albeit on much older hard tires. Antonelli, thanks to a well-timed and well-executed pit stop, gained the upper hand over Norris.

Verstappen was no match for Antonelli and Norris, who staged their own battle for second while both chased the Red Bull. Both were quickly past the Dutchman, and it looked like an Antonelli vs Norris battle for the win with half the race completed.

Antonelli and Norris ran 1-2 for the rest of the race, and although Norris trimmed the gap to under a second on occasions, he was never able to mount a serious attack on the young Italian.

What the Antonelli-Norris battle lacked in drama was more than made up for by the Piastri-Leclerc-Russell-Verstappen race to the finish. Piastri slipped by Leclerc for third on the final lap, and Leclerc’s subsequent spin allowed Russell and Verstappen to overtake him just before the finish.

Antonelli kept Norris at bay and coasted to a 3.3 second win.

The Bad

After a solid finish in a car that he seems to be moderately happy with, can we expect Max Verstappen to stop whining and drop the “I’m thinking about leaving F1” charade? I certainly hope not, because the whiny Verstappen voice is likely the most vocal among drivers dissatisfied with the current F1 racing. If there’s one thing that will force F1 to modify its product to better satisfy drivers, it’s the threat of a Verstappen exit.

I firmly believe Verstappen never had any real intentions of leaving the sport, but you have to respect a man who gets what he wants by incessantly complaining and flaunting his affinity for and skill at endurance racing.  

Although the threat of rain loomed throughout the race, precipitation had no effect on the race. Try as she might, Mother Nature could not put her stamp on the Miami Grand Prix. It’s kind of indicative of how difficult it is for a woman to get into Formula 1. So, Formula 1 management, do better, try harder, and do what it takes to get a female driver into F1. 

Once again, Leclerc wasn’t happy with Ferrari’s strategy. Leclerc was called to the pits on lap 21 and immediately questioned Ferrari’s decision. Plus, a 3.7-second pit stop didn’t make Leclerc any less frustrated.

Was it unexpected? Of course not. In the long history of Ferrari’s boneheaded decisions and errors, these were relatively minor. So, maybe you can call that “progress” for Ferrari. When you’ve made it a habit of shooting yourself in the foot, I guess shooting yourself in a couple of toes signifies an improvement.   

But Leclerc received his comeuppance on the final lap, when he spun in the midst of a failed attempt to defend third place from Oscar Piastri. To my knowledge, no one on the Ferrari team contacted Leclerc over the team radio to ask, “Why did you spin?” 

Leclerc voicing his displeasure with the team over the radio has become just as common as Ferrari screwing up, giving Leclerc a reason to voice it. Lewis Hamilton has joined the team’s vibe and is also quick to denigrate his team over the radio.

I think it falls on Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur to finally assert himself, for once, and tell his drivers to keep their mouths shut. The best way to do that is to remind Leclerc and Hamilton of the old adage “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That should guarantee radio silence from drivers at Ferrari, probably for the rest of the season.

It was a rough day for Red Bull drivers, current and former. Just six laps into the race, Red Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, who was disqualified from Saturday’s qualifying for a technical infringement, clipped the wall at Turn 14. The impact broke his front suspension and sent him crashing into the wall at Turn 15. 

At about the same time, former Red Bull drivers, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, collided after Lawson lost his gearbox. The impact flipped Gasly’s Alpine over, and his car came to rest with its front end on the Turn 17 wall.

Lawson, Gasly, and Hadjar finished 20th, 21st, and 22nd, respectively.

The Good

Can any driver, now or in the history of F1, save a spin like Max Verstappen? Verstappen’s spin at the race’s stop could have been disastrous for him, as well as everyone behind him. But the four-time world champion controlled his 360-degree ride and kept himself and others out of harm’s way.

He’s not the first F1 champion with exceptional spin control. Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was phenomenal at controlling his spins, oftentimes controlling them right into the path of his nearest championship contender.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg also had the uncanny ability to spin and not put anyone in danger, except for themselves and their teammate. 

Things are currently going pretty well for Lando Norris right now. He dominated the sprint race from pole on Saturday (May 2nd) and finished second in Sunday’s (May 3rd) grand prix. With the McLarens looking considerably better than they had in the previous three races, Norris appears to have the car to defend his world championship.

More importantly, the Monster Energy drink “Lando Norris edition” is readily available in stores. It’s loaded with 160 mg of caffeine, and with its unique melon-yuzu flavor, it’s bound to have people asking, “I have no idea what this tastes like, but I’ll surely be awake for the next 24 hours to make a determination.” 

Grid Walk Moments

On the Apple TV broadcast, Jolyon Palmer and James Hinchcliff double-teamed the Grid Walk, and the celebrities were out in full force, as evidenced by the presence on the grid of A-listers Colin Farrell, Terry Crews, and Patrick Dempsey. 

Farrell recalled attending his first F1 race (1998 Monza), Crews and his veiny biceps proved that the sun does not have to be out for the guns to be out, and Dempsey provided insightful analysis one would expect from a seasoned driver who has competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Dempsey is one of the few people in the world who can say he’s a better actor and driver than Malcolm In The Middle.

In addition, A-list athletes such as Lionel Messi and Rafael Nadal were on the grid. Messi no doubt gave fellow Argentine Franco Colapinto a pep talk, providing the Alpine driver the motivational free kick in the pants he needed to post his best result of the young season.

Nadal waved the checkered flag, and in doing so, displayed probably the weakest backhand of his long and wildly successful career that saw him win 22 tennis majors.

Apple TV Coverage Critique

Juan Pablo Montoya really stands out as part of the F1 TV crew, appearing on Apple’s broadcast. I say he stands out because while every other member of the team is dressed in stylish, form-fitting attire, JPM proudly appears slovenly-chic in an oversized XXL white t-shirt.  

The Driver

Lando Norris drove an almost perfect race, avoiding the chaos at the start and leading several early laps. And if not for McLaren being out-strategized by Mercedes, Norris likely would have won the race.

And McLaren appears to be the team that best used the five-week break to improve its car, and that they did. After starting the season with cars that literally couldn’t make it to the grid, McLaren now seems to be close to catching Mercedes. And while Norris is 49 points back of Antonelli in the standings, and Piastri is 57 behind the Italian prodigy, it’s a long season, and McLaren, of all teams, knows that no lead is safe. 

F1 Glossary Word Of The Day

“Marbles:” Marbles are small pieces of tire rubber that accumulate on the track as cars’ tires wear and degrade during the race. Sometimes, after races, drivers will collect these marbles in a pouch, and the driver who’s collected the most is said to have the biggest “marble bag.” 


The Results (Crypto.comMiami Grand Prix, Miami International Autodrome)

Pos.No.DriverTeamLapsTime / RetiredPts.
112Kimi AntonelliMercedes571:33:19.27325
21Lando NorrisMcLaren57+3.264s18
381Oscar PiastriMcLaren57+27.092s15
463George RussellMercedes57+43.051s12
53Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing57+48.949s10
644Lewis HamiltonFerrari57+53.753s8
743Franco ColapintoAlpine57+61.871s6
816Charles LeclercFerrari57+64.245s4
955Carlos SainzWilliams57+82.072s2
1023Alexander AlbonWilliams57+90.972s1
1187Oliver BearmanHaas F1 Team56+1 lap0
125Gabriel BortoletoAudi56+1 lap0
1331Esteban OconHaas F1 Team56+1 lap0
1441Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls56+1 lap0
1514Fernando AlonsoAston Martin56+1 lap0
1611Sergio PerezCadillac56+1 lap0
1718Lance StrollAston Martin56+1 lap0
1877Valtteri BottasCadillac55+2 laps0
NC27Nico HulkenbergAudi7DNF0
NC30Liam LawsonRacing Bulls6DNF0
NC10Pierre GaslyAlpine4DNF0
NC6Isack HadjarRed Bull Racing4DNF0
Donate to Frontstretch