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2026 Miami Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: They were never going to overhaul the rules after just three races. So, whether they went far enough, is up to the eye of the beholder. The new cars worked well at Miami, but Montreal with it's long straights, may be a different story.

EVENT: The fake marina is mostly gone, replaced by a replica cruise ship.

TRACK: Drivers either do well or terrible at this track.

SPRINT SHOOTOUT: McLaren makes good on their upgrades, Antonelli continues to sparkle, Ferrari is quick even if they faded, and Cadillac again outdoes Aston Martin.

SPRINT: Some great battles throughout the field while Norris ran off into the sunset.

SPRINT START: As expected, Leclerc's Ferrari gets off to a great start while Antonelli's Mercedes bogs down, the McLarens relive 2025, Verstappen and Hamilton do some wheel rubbing, and Hulkenberg went up in smoke before even getting to the grid.

QUALIFYING: Antonelli shows Mercedes hasn't fallen off the pace after all. Verstappen is loving the upgrades. Russell is thinking, oh crap. Alpine does well, while Haas is struggling.

RACE: An extremely entertaining race. This ruleset truly is a love/hate relationship.

START: Stop us if you heard this before: Antonelli gets a poor start; Leclerc goes into the lead. Meanwhile, Verstappen amazingly doesn't get hit as Hamilton and Colapinto bang wheels.

ANTONELLI: No luck this time. Kimi put his stamp on this race, when the Mercedes was arguably not the fastest car.

RUSSELL: Okay, so Miami has never been a track George has done well on. And Montreal is a track he excels. So, he really, really needs to dominate his teammate in Canada, or the whole season could very quickly unravel.

MERCEDES: They still won despite not bringing any updates while many other teams clearly caught up with them. They will have updates at Montreal. So much for the other teams catching up to them...

NORRIS: Lando took full advantage of the McLaren upgrades, claiming sprint pole and winning the sprint.

MCLAREN: Some could say they made another strategy gaffe. But how could they know for sure when Antonelli was going to pit to attempt the undercut?

TEAMMATES: Piastri was never close to Norris. Russell had nothing for Antonelli. Hamilton was a no-show compared to Leclerc. This race had quite the distinction between teammates on the top teams.

VERSTAPPEN: How many times does Max do a complete 360 and not get hit or hit a wall? And this time right in front of the entire pack in the first turn of the race.

FERRARI: Upgrades helped. But script remained similar -- long race pace is still off.

COLAPINTO: Give credit where credit is due. Franco had an excellent weekend.

GASLY: Went for a wild ride.

WILLIAMS: They did improve, but they never should have been on the back foot to start with.

HAAS: No upgrades. No points. They will be bringing them to Montreal.

ASTON MARTIN: Well, both cars did finish. So, there's that...

CADILLAC: ...but the newbies were racing Aston Martin on merit.

AUDI: Reliability still a serious issue.

HADJAR: Self inflicted wound.

ZANARDI: You'll be hard pressed to find a more inspirational person than Alex. Always with a smile and willing to take on a challenge after an horrific crash. Champion in multiple categories. A hero and role model for the ages. And of course, donuts and The Pass. He'll be missed.

F2: The sprint race saw a thrilling back and forth battle between the top two and more, with Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov finally coming out on top. A wild, wild last few laps on the wet to drying track for the feature race saw extended side-by-side racing and multiple lead changes. Italian Gabriele Minì got the win.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Tweaks.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 3 -- Kimi Antonelli becomes the first driver to take his first three career wins all from pole position. He also became the third Italian to win three races in the same season (Giuseppe Farina in 1950 and Alberto Ascari in 1953).

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: The longest gap in a Formula 1 season once it got underway was in 1965 (not counting the abortive start in 2020 due to the pandemic). That year, the South African GP (at the old Prince George Circuit in East London) moved from being the season closer in late December to the season opener the first day of January. Then, the season didn't pick up again until Monaco (which often would kick off a season for many years) on May 30, a 21-week gap. The remaining nine races of the 10-race schedule were completed within the next 21 weeks. Two other years were similar when the race moved to Kyalami, but with slightly shorter gaps. January 2 to May 7 in 1967 and January 1 to May 12 for the Spanish GP in 1968.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: From @ClbPurpleSector:

Antonelli didn’t have the easiest race

Lost track position early
Won it back on strategy
Held off Norris under pressure

That is championship driving

#F1 #Formula1 #MiamiGP

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Charles Leclerc was not happy with his team's communcations, "Next time you make a big decision, speak with me first..."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Max Verstappen on yet again escaping unscathed after a 360 spin, "If F1 doesn't work out, I could always go rallying."

SCHEDULE: We come to the most controversial portion of the schedule. The end of the Greatest Day in Racing as Monaco was moved off the Indy 500 date. Instead, we get a nonstop afternoon/evening of racing, with Indy immediately followed by Montreal immediately followed by Charlotte. Good luck finding a bathroom break...

Copyright © 2026 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Antonelli 57
2. Norris 57
3. Piastri 57
4. Russell 57
5. Verstappen 57
6. Hamilton 57
7. Colapinto 57
8. Leclerc 57
9. Sainz 57
10. Albon 57
11. Bearman 56
12. Bortoleto 56
13. Ocon 56
14. Lindblad(R) 56
15. Alonso 56
16. Perez 56
17. Stroll 56
18. Bottas 55
NC Hulkenberg 7
NC Lawson 6
NC Gasly 4
NC Hadjar 4

Time of Race
1:33:19.273

Margin of Victory
3.264 secs.

Safety Car
1 for 6 laps

Lead Changes
6 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders
Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen

Fastest Race Lap
Lando Norris

Pole Position
Kimi Antonelli

Sprint Winner
Lando Norris

Sprint Pole
Lando Norris

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Antonelli 100
2. Russell 80
3. Leclerc 59
4. Norris 51
  Hamilton 51
6. Piastri 43
7. Verstappen 26
8. Bearman 17
9. Gasly 16
10. Lawson 10
11. Colapinto 7
12. Lindblad(R) 4
  Hadjar 4
  Sainz 4
15. Bortoleto 2
16. Ocon 1
  Ablon 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 180
2. Ferrari 110
3. McLaren 94
4. Red Bull 30
5. Alpine 23
6. Haas 18
7. Racing Bulls 14
8. Williams 5
9. Audi 2
 
 

2026 Thoughts
Australia China Japan Bahrain
Saudi Arabia Miami Canada Monaco
Barcelona Austria Great Britain Belgium
Hungary Holland Italy Spain
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
São Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2025 Thoughts
Australia China Japan Bahrain
Saudi Arabia Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Spain Canada Austria Great Britain
Belgium Hungary Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
São Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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