Key events
Lap 10/57: The safety car is still out. A reminder of the top positions so far. We’re told rain is coming in 20 minutes – around lap 25 or so. Verstappen, now in 16th, is the only driver to have pitted – if the rain holds off, it will reward the former world champion. The stewards are looking into the collision between Gasly and Lawson, and the New Zealander could be penalised.
1) Leclerc
2) Norris
3) Antonelli
4) Russell
5) Piastri
6) Hamilton
7) Colapinto
8) Albon
9) Sainz
10) Bearman
Lap 10 of 57: Hadjar clipped a wall before he crashed, he simply turned too early. He’d been moving up the field on the hard tyres too.
Lap 8 of 57: Gasly’s car flipped after he was clipped by Lawson. The New Zealander is OK to continue. Gasly has walked away unharmed.
Lap 7 of 57: Gasly and Hadjar were involved in separate crashes, by the way. Verstappen pits.
Safety car out
Lap 5 of 57: And now Leclerc regains the lead. Hadjar’s terrible day continues as he crashes out. And then Norris joins Leclerc by passing Antonelli to grab second place. The safety car is out after Hadjar’s crash. Gasly is out too.
Lap 4 of 57: Antonelli challenges Leclerc for the lead but Leclerc holds off the championship leader … just about. Antonelli has another dart and Leclerc lets him through. Antonelli in the lead!
Lap 3 of 57: A good start for Alex Albon, who started the day in 15th but has leapt up to 10th. Hadjar, the only driver on hard tyres after starting in the pit, has zoomed to 16th .
Lap 2 of 57: Verstappen makes back a little ground, passing Lawson and is now up to eighth. Leclerc has a lead of a second over Antonelli in second. Russell is up to fourth.
Lights out!
Leclerc nips up the inside and grabs the lead! Verstappen spins as he jostles for position and is down in 10th! All sorts happening in a frantic start. Antonelli is second, Norris third, Piastri fourth and Hamilton fifth.
Every driver starting on the grid is on medium tyres today, the rain earlier means there’s not likely to be much grip on the track. And, of course, if it rains later …
Hadjar, starting in the pit lane, will start on hard tyres in the hope of making up ground on the field.
Max Verstappen, an excellent wet weather driver, is chatting to Apple TV as he makes his way to the grid. He predicts a “hectic race” in the unpredictable conditions.
This will be the first race this season with rain, and the first time we see how the new cars handle wet conditions. While we wait for the start of the race, a little reminder of the driver standings at the start of the day:
1 Kimi Antonelli (It) 75pts
2 George Russell (GB) 68
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) 55
4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) 43
5 Lando Norris (GB) 33
6 Oscar Piastri (Aus) 28
7 Oliver Bearman (GB) 17
8 Pierre Gasly (Fr) 16
9 Max Verstappen (Neth) 16
10 Liam Lawson (NZ) 10
Positive-ish weather update
The FIA says the rain is forecast to arrive 20 minutes after the start, but the worst weather should hit once the race is over. Meanwhile, the cars are arriving on the grid now.
Latest news is that the race should start in dry conditions, although the rain is more than likely to set in at some point during the grand prix. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm has turned up to get some advice from Carlos Sainz and Rafa Nadal on the LIV situation.
The rain is still holding off for now. Looks like F1 have linked up with some local teams, so little known Inter Miami veteran Lionel Messi can afford to get in! Great to see F1 giving back to the community.
The starting grid
1 Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
2 Max Verstappen, Red Bull
3 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
4 Lando Norris, McLaren
5 George Russell, Mercedes
6 Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
7 Oscar Piastri, McLaren
8 Franco Colapinto, Alpine
9 Pierre Gasly, Alpine
10 Nico Hulkenberg, Audi
11 Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
12 Oliver Bearman, Haas
13 Carlos Sainz, Williams
14 Esteban Ocon, Haas
15 Alex Albon, Williams
16 Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
17 Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
18 Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
19 Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac
20 Sergio Perez, Cadillac
21 Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi
22 Isack Hadjar, Red Bull (starts from pit lane)
A little update from AFP on the grid:
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar will start from the back of the grid in the Miami Grand Prix after he was disqualified on Sunday from qualifying for a technical infringement on his car.
Hadjar had posted the ninth quickest time in Saturday’s qualifying but the stewards announced that the Frenchman’s car failed its inspection. They said its floor was deemed non-compliant because its dimensions exceeded by two millimetres the reference volume defined by the 2026 regulations.
Red Bull accepted the decision and “admitted a breach of the technical regulations”, the stewards specified.
“We made a mistake and we respect the stewards’ decision,” said team principal, Laurent Mekies, in a statement.
“No advantage was sought or gained from this error. We will learn from this mistake and review our procedures to understand how it happened and ensure it does not happen again.”
Hadjar, 21, is therefore relegated to the back of the grid in 22nd spot.
Weather update
A reminder that the start time for this race was brought forward three hours to 1pm ET/6pm BST because of the threat of heavy storms. Outdoor sports events in Florida must be stopped if there’s a lightning strike within an eight-mile radius of the venue and can’t restart until there’s been no thunder of lighting for 30 minutes, which means we could be in for a little disruption this afternoon. There was heavy rain earlier this morning and it’s dry now, but the storms are forecast to return around 1pm … which also happens to be the start of the race.
Tom will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how qualifying went down:
Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the Miami Grand Prix with a strong lap, but only by narrowly beating a resurgent Max Verstappen and Red Bull into second place.
After the session had finished, the FIA, F1 and the Miami promoter issued a joint statement announcing the start of Sunday’s race had been brought forward from 4pm to 1pm local time – 6pm BST – because of heavy thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon.
On the track Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were in third and sixth for Ferrari, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in fourth and seventh for McLaren, while Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell could manage only fifth, four-10ths back from the Italian.
Antonelli, who leads the world championship by seven points from Russell, claimed his third straight pole, reasserting Mercedes’ pace at the front of the field that had looked to be genuinely under threat over the weekend in Miami. Not least when Norris and Piastri took a dominant one-two in the sprint race earlier on Saturday at the Hard Rock stadium.
You can read the full report below:
