F1 Miami, the report cards of the promoted
1. McLaren. As in 2024, Florida showcases the papaya skill. Only Kimi steals the scene from a McLaren that has become a point of reference again, perhaps even the top force while waiting for the first serious updates from Mercedes. From the embarrassment in Australia – double DNS from the reigning champions, a worldwide disgrace – to pole positions, podiums, and wins (even if in a Sprint) within two months, with an explosive growth that seems to be theirs alone. They work better, while elsewhere people still talk about potential to unlock.
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2. Kimi Antonelli. Miami escapes the rain but not this curly cyclone, who when you see him you think of everything except that he could currently be the fastest driver in the world. Mediocre performance in the Sprint, but extraordinary in the race, with Russell reduced to anonymity, Max defused at the start, and Norris kept at bay with impressive calm. This guy is normalizing the impossible. Or at least what seemed impossible just two years ago: Italian flags on the podium, pole position, Mameli’s anthem becoming a sweet habit. Now, respecting the rivals who have grown and waiting to see Mercedes’ (and Russell’s) response, there is no fear in dreaming that little word. Because the base, incredibly, is there. Only refinement remains.
3. Franco Colapinto. Top-10 in two qualifying sessions and two races, in an F1 that theoretically excludes midfield teams from the top eight positions. Seventh place the result of skill and a bit of luck (between Leclerc’s penalty and the accidents of Gasly and Hadjar), meanwhile he was there, without rotting in anonymity as happened until a few months ago. Well done Alpine (here often criticized), mention for Williams who scores points with both drivers exploiting the weekend between the intangible and the disconcerting of Haas, Racing Bulls, and Audi.
F1 Miami, the report cards of the failed
3. What a bore. If those who tell F1 have to fuel conspiracies about Lawson deliberately letting Verstappen pass (so do we close our eyes to the fight of the previous lap?), they have to say that Hadjar annihilates Max (26-4 in the standings), when Leclerc makes a mistake they say it like the side effects of the leaflet, not to mention “the lap of then” (always in FP1, at most in FP2) / “How beautiful this F1 is” (it was certainly a more spectacular weekend, but on a favorable track) / “Everything else is boredom”…please, these are observations that entertain: but sometimes wouldn’t it be better to really get bored?
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2. Ferrari. The dynamic is always the same. Phase 1: promising free practice, Q1 and Q2 at the level of the best. Phase 2: Q3 where others shift up two gears giving you three tenths. Phase 3: statements that invariably touch on the themes “potential“, “lap execution“, “the pace is there“. Phase 4: the pace is not there, because anyway on the straight they outpace you. And now it may also be a matter of engine, but for years the story of the weekends has been this. Something better was expected, without a doubt, from this work group, which had long circled 2026 on the calendar. And instead, despite the first development package, Ferrari was the third force on track, if not the fourth: without the spin at turn 2, Verstappen would surely have had another race and perhaps would have been ahead more easily.
1. George Russell. Forty-three seconds in 46 laps from Antonelli, four tenths in both qualifying sessions. You may not like the track, your teammate may be in high spirits, you may have had bad luck in Shanghai and Suzuka…but 43 seconds (with a Safety Car in between) is the gap Perez took from Verstappen. In his eighth year in F1, fifth in Mercedes and now in full maturity (now 29 years old), Russell cannot afford these performances. He realized he underestimated Antonelli, but now he must reassess himself. Fate returns to him (both in the Sprint and in the GP) what it took from him in the East and the calendar holds Montreal, where he won last year. Now he must help himself, because so far he is the biggest disappointment of the World Championship, on the drivers’ side.
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