Miami Grand Prix Sunday: Teams & Drivers Race Day Reports

From the start, the front runners established a tight formation, with the chasing pack unable to break into the fight for victory. Pressure remained constant throughout, particularly in the closing stages, where gaps fluctuated and small mistakes threatened to decide the outcome.

McLaren showed strong pace across the weekend but could not fully convert it when it mattered most, while Mercedes executed cleanly to stay in control at the front. Red Bull and Ferrari remained in contention early on but ultimately lacked the consistency to challenge for the win over a full race distance.

Further back, midfield battles added depth to the race, with several teams trading positions through strategy calls and on track moves. Tyre degradation and timing proved decisive across the field, forcing drivers into careful management rather than outright attacking runs.

In the end, execution proved the defining factor, with the front runners maximising their opportunities in a race that highlighted just how fine the margins are across the grid this season.

This is what teams and drivers had to say after the 2026 Miami Grand Prix:

Lando Norris: "We leave Miami with mixed feelings. As a team, we should be proud: two cars on the podium, a big points haul, and a clear step forward that put us in a genuine fight for the win. I felt I drove very well all weekend and extracted everything from the car. Credit to Kimi, he managed a strong race and Mercedes clearly still have an edge. At the same time, it hurts because a win was possible. We’ll review what we could have done differently and keep pushing to bring more performance, especially in the high-speed corners where Mercedes are very strong. Miami suits us, but Canada has traditionally favoured them, so we’ll stay patient, keep our heads down, and judge our progress over the next few races. We’re proud of the step, but we want to be the best. This is a long season, and we’re here to fight."

Oscar Piastri: "To come away with a double podium is really positive for the team. Overall, I am very happy with how we performed today. Going long was the right call, and we had some good battles out on track. We probably had a little more in us, and there were some tough moments out there, but the pace is really encouraging, and it's always nice to be on the podium. We're not quite back in the position we were last year, and there is still a gap to Mercedes, but we are definitely getting closer. Thank you to the whole team for all of their work in delivering this package, we've made a good step forward, so let's see what we can do in Canada."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "This was a very positive weekend for the entire team, and while you always want to convert a race lead into a victory, we are delighted with a double podium. It’s a strong result that gives us a great sense of encouragement and satisfaction. We shouldn’t forget where we started from this season: to have a weekend with a Sprint Quali Pole position, a Sprint Race 1-2 and a double podium today fighting for the victory until the last few laps shows the incredible progress we are making together as a team. This outcome doesn't change our positive momentum; it reinforces it. Our upgrades performed exactly as we had hoped, and I want to thank every single person back at McLaren for their talent and hard work that made this step forward possible. We know Mercedes still has a slight advantage; a couple of tenths, and we really need to rely on a perfect execution to be in condition to beat them at this stage. We lost some small margins in execution today, that we will review and improve back in Woking ahead of our next race in Canada. The development battle will be crucial this season with four teams in condition to fight for Pole position and victories. Our development pathway has lots in the pipeline, with parts planned for Canada and a few more in Monaco, and Spain. We are in the fight, and we believe this sets the stage for a very interesting championship battle for the fans and Formula 1."

Charles Leclerc: "The start and race overall went well and we were fighting for the podium. At the end, unfortunately, I made a mistake that cost me several positions. That’s on me and I will make sure I don’t repeat it again. We will take the time we have in this short break before our next race in Canada to review and take some steps forward."

Lewis Hamilton: "Today’s race was affected by what happened on the opening lap, and with the damage I sustained, P7 was the best result we could achieve. Overall, it was a challenging weekend, but I believe we have a good car and there are some positives to take away. We just need to keep pushing, both at the factory and at the track, to keep adding performance and close the gap as we move forward."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: "Overall, it was a challenging Sunday on both sides of the garage. With Lewis, the race was largely about managing the damage from lap one, which meant dealing with overheating and doing a lot of lift and coast just to bring the car to the finish. On Charles’ side, the pace was strong in clean air and we were fighting at the front, but once we dropped into traffic it became more difficult and consistency was the main issue. There was a big performance delta between the part when Charles was leading and the later part of the race. It is something we need to look into, because it was a similar picture in yesterday’s Sprint.

However, there are some positives to take from the weekend: the starts were good and the upgrades worked as expected. We know where we need to improve – consistency, managing traffic and extracting the full potential of the package."

Pierre Gasly: “Firstly, I am okay after the incident with Liam [Lawson]. It was definitely a scary feeling being flipped over in a Formula One car so I am glad it wasn't too serious and I was able to climb out and walk away. Frustratingly, my start was quite good, probably too good in the end, as I jumped a number of places but then I had to jump on the brakes to avoid Max [Verstappen] who had spun and then I lost some positions, putting us into the midfield pack. I was confident with our race pace, especially after yesterday, so I knew it was likely, had we had some clean air, we could have scored some solid points. Then my race was over with the incident with Liam, which, in my mind is totally avoidable and should not happen. He has visited me to say sorry but I am just disappointed for the team as we had the pace and we deserved points. There is a lot for us to review ahead of Canada to keep making the package better. We are the fifth fastest team and we have to consolidate that and keep chasing the pack ahead.”

Franco Colapinto: “Another points finish in P8 today, so I am very happy. It has been a good week overall, from Buenos Aires a week ago, to meeting one of my sporting heroes in Lionel Messi, and now points in the Miami Grand Prix, I am definitely pleased. I would say we maximised everything we could today and that is where we are in the standings. It was a bit lonely in P8 with the top teams again just too far ahead of us but still, we did a solid job as a team on strategy, pit-stops and executing everything quite well. I had a bit of a slow start off the line so lost some positions there but then we recovered that quite quickly and I was pretty much back where I started. We had a small clash with Lewis [Hamilton] but thankfully did not have too much damage and we could carry on. From there, the pace was strong and we managed everything well to finish P8 at the end. Well done to the whole team for their effort and I know the hard work will continue to Montréal next time out where we will aim to continue this form and score more points.”

Flavio Briatore: “It was two very different races for our drivers today. For Pierre, it is a disappointing outcome as the car was clearly competitive here for points so we have missed out as a result of an avoidable incident, as Pierre was the victim of a big misjudgement from another driver. We are glad Pierre could walk away unscathed, such is the safety of modern Formula One. On the other side, Franco has rounded off a really good week where he has performed at the level we expect him to at every race weekend. The car is competitive and it is these performances we need week in, week out from both drivers and the entire team for us to meet our objectives. We are P5 in the Constructors' Championship and we are looking forwards and not backwards on what we can achieve. We have a lot to review in the two weeks before Canada especially in regards to some of the new items on the car which might not have given Pierre the performance uplift we expected. Finally, credit to FIA and Formula One for their decisive action in bringing the race forward by three hours and ensuring the race could proceed as planned with an eye on the weather.”

Ollie Bearman: "It was very, very close out there. I’m a bit disappointed, but like I’ve said this weekend, we were maybe anticipating a more challenging one, given that we didn’t bring any updates to the car. Given all of that, I think we can be happy with our job as we finished close to the points, just not close enough, sadly. The race also didn’t go in our favor as we had one DNF ahead of us, but on lap one I fell back, but with us bringing updates to the next race in Montreal, we can hopefully be stronger."

Esteban Ocon: "We were going for a good race, but unfortunately after the pit stop that was not the case anymore, so we need to review that. I think it would have been difficult to get into the points as we lacked a little bit of pace and it was quite tricky to stay on track and get a good rhythm. We had some degrading on the tires as we were pushing hard. There are still plenty of positives to take and a lot of good lessons for us. Onto Montreal now and looking forward to seeing what we can do."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "Overall, it’s been a tough weekend, but we knew that, knowing our upgrade strategy, and we still came close to the top 10. We put ourselves in the position to score points, and we nearly did it, so we have to take the positives. This weekend gave us a few pointers on where we need to improve, regardless of update or spec, in terms of understanding car procedures and processes, so we’ll do that before Montreal. I’m looking forward to having an upgrade and getting that working during a Sprint weekend straight from the get-go. We can be proud of ourselves, of what we’ve achieved so far, and I look forward to going to Canada."

Alan Pewrmane, Team Principal: "A tough weekend for us. Firstly, we apologise to Pierre and Alpine for the incident; Liam’s gearbox failed and broke fifth gear as he was braking for Turn 17, which caused him to collide with Pierre. It was a good fun first few laps though and who knows where it could have gone, a points finish could have been possible. For Arvid it was a race about learning, after missing the Sprint, he was on the back foot, but there’s plenty to take away from this race, and his pace on the Hard tyres was very encouraging. Unfortunately, a point-less weekend for us, but we are going into Montreal with some more aero upgrades and full of confidence to have a good weekend.”

Arvid Lindblad: "It was always going to be a difficult race given the limited mileage this weekend. I struggled in the first stint, the pace on the Medium tyre wasn’t there and I had very little grip. As soon as I switched to the Hard tyre, I felt more comfortable, the car was easier to drive and the pace definitely improved. We’ll take a close look at everything from this weekend, I’ll keep working on my side and continue learning. The team did a really good job this weekend, making the most out of some difficult situations. Overall, I’m really enjoying driving the car so far and I’m excited for another new track coming up.”

Liam Lawson: "It's been a tough weekend here in Miami. We suffered a gearbox issue, which isn't something we've experienced before, but it meant that I lost control of the car and ultimately made contact with Pierre. The collision ended his race and the issue led to us having to retire the car, which is obviously frustrating. I went to see Pierre straight after the race to apologise and am glad he's okay, which is the main thing. We had a strong start and gained a lot of places, so it's a shame for the race to have ended as it did. We'll use the next couple of weeks to reset and take our learnings to Canada, which is a track I really enjoy."

Checo Perez: “Today we were racing. It was a lot of fun fighting Fernando [Alonso] at the end. Unfortunately, he just passed me but overall it was a nice fight and one that I enjoyed a lot. We made the most out of today and we have learned a lot this weekend. We need to take this package back to the factory to analyze everything and see which direction to take, but I feel that we are not too far away to make a couple of clicks here and there and move forward again. Qualifying was very promising, and the Sprint event, and the crew did a great job in my pit stop too, so we see some real flashes. Overall things are going in the right direction.”

Valtteri Bottas: “A difficult day out there today. It felt like we made some improvements with fresh tires, but the degradation was still huge. The drive-through penalty didn't help. Basically, my pit limiter was not on after pressing it, but we've been lacking a bit of feedback on the buttons, so I didn't press it hard enough. This weekend was an important one for us as a U.S. team racing at home and we’ve shown that we’re definitely making progress in some areas. The biggest takeaway is that we still have work to do to find more performance, so we’ll investigate that as a team and keep building.”

Graeme Lowdon, Team Principal: “This weekend has been a positive step forward for Cadillac Formula 1 Team. We got another double car finish in the race today, building on yesterday’s double result in the Sprint, and were able to race with other cars on pace. We also know there are areas we need to refine and improve so there is more to come from us. We’ve increased the amount of data that we have access to by a huge amount and we will look to make another step forward in Montreal.”

Dan Towriss, CEO, Cadillac Formula 1 Team Holdings: “I’m proud of the team this weekend. The pressure of racing for the first time on home soil, with our first significant upgrade package, has been huge, but the team and drivers have performed well. We’re showing some real flashes of progress, which just makes us hungry for more.”

Allan McNish, Racing Director: “It’s been a challenging weekend overall for us. Gabi delivered a very strong drive today, working his way back with good pace, composure and some well-judged overtaking that underlines the potential in the car. Equally, a lot of credit goes to the team, particularly the mechanics, who responded to a very difficult day yesterday with real determination and focus. That’s the spirit that continues to push us forward. For Nico, it was frustrating. He was squeezed into Turn 1, which meant an early front wing change, and unfortunately a subsequent technical issue forced his retirement. From his starting position, he was very much in contention for points, so that’s clearly disappointing. Our priority now is to ensure we consistently convert that potential into results. We will take the learnings from this weekend, reset over the break, and come back ready to maximise the opportunity in Montreal.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “It’s obviously not how we wanted to finish the weekend. We had a technical issue and had to retire, which is frustrating because the aim is always to be out there racing to the end. Overall, it’s been a challenging weekend. We’ll regroup, understand what happened and keep pushing. Staying persistent is key - that effort will pay off, and that’s what we’re focused on going forward.”

Gabriel Bortoleto: “I feel like the pace was there to fight for the points, but when you start last, there’s not really much you can do. I made my way through the back of the field, there was some good pace and some good moves, but just not enough time to overtake. Considering I started last and finished P12, I think it was a solid result. I’m really proud of the team and the work they did to get the car out there yesterday, and we’ll keep going.”

James Vowles, Team Principal: “Well done to the team. It's great to see the hard work of the last five weeks, and the aero package all adding up, putting us in stronger place than we started the season. It's still a long road, but the positive news is that there's more performance to come throughout the rest of the season. Alex and Carlos worked incredibly well as a team today and as a result secured the best positions we could have. We stopped Alex first, which is different to what we would normally do, to ensure that he got ahead of Bearman and secured the points for the team. We have a couple of weeks now until Canada, and I’m looking forward to racing hard for the rest of the season.”

Carlos Sainz: “Another very solid Sunday. I had a strong start and managed to position myself in contention for points. The pace from there was very good, the race was well-executed, and we were comfortably in the midfield fight. We’ve made progress over the early break, and the team has worked hard to bring this upgrade to the car. It shows how much we can achieve when we get our heads down, but this is still very far from where we want to be. Our aim is to keep up the good work and try score points regularly.”

Alex Albon: “It has been a difficult start to the season, so it is great to bring home a double points finish, which is a strong result for the team. We had a good start and I made up some positions within the first three laps, and the upgrades also seemed to run well allowing us to properly fight in the midfield. There is more to unlock with performance and we’ve been experimenting all weekend with setups; there is still a bit to go in terms of understanding the new package, but we’ll keep pushing. Miami as a track tends to suit us, so we need to turn our attention to Montreal now and extracting the most out of another Sprint weekend.”

Fernando Alonso: “It’s good to have both cars finish the race for the first time this season. We are still not where we want to be, but this weekend has allowed us to collect more data which we can analyse over the next few weeks before Canada. We have made clear progress in reliability, now our focus turns to performance. We need to keep working and be patient as a team.”

Lance Stroll: “It’s the first time this season both cars finished a race, so that’s a positive to take from Miami. We managed to get more milage in the car and experienced less vibrations this weekend. In hindsight, our tyre strategy didn’t work out but from a reliability perspective we made a step in the right direction. We now need to work on our performance related issues, there are lots of areas for us to improve on.”

Mike Krack: “Our focus over the break was to work with Honda to improve the PU’s vibrations into the chassis - that work has paid off and we have taken an important step forward on reliability this weekend. Whilst that is a positive, there’s clearly more we need to do together to improve our pace and unlock the potential of this package.”

Shintaro Orihara, Trackside General Manager and Chief Engineer: “We can see some positives from the Miami weekend with both cars finishing all races for the first time and having no major reliability issues on our power units. We have found a way to reduce most of the vibrations, which helps us in securing more reliability, even under very warm operating conditions like during Saturday’s Sprint race. It is a small step in the right direction which will allow us to work harder on finding more performance. It will take time, but this weekend ticked a few boxes to help us move forward.”