Kimi Antonelli is not slowing down. The young Italian phenom delivered another statement performance in Miami on Sunday, claiming victory in a chaotic, drama-laden Grand Prix to secure his third consecutive win and firmly announce himself as the man to beat in the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship.
Lando Norris, the reigning world champion, crossed the line in second for his best finish of the season, while Oscar Piastri completed the podium after a relentless late charge. But the race itself was far more than a story of clean, clinical racing at the front. Miami delivered everything — flipped cars, multiple investigations, rain threats, gearbox scares, and wheel-to-wheel battles that had fans on the edge of their seats until the very final corner of the very final lap.
The race was moved forward by three hours as storm clouds loomed over South Florida, with thunder and lightning drenching the circuit in the morning before leaving behind a dry track for lights out. The drama, however, did not wait for the weather to clear. On the very first lap, chaos erupted. Charles Leclerc launched around the outside of Antonelli into Turn 1 and immediately seized the lead, while Max Verstappen mounted the kerb and spun, dropping all the way to ninth by the start of Lap 2. The Dutchman, never one to take humiliation quietly, immediately began pushing his way back through the field, muscling past Carlos Sainz's Williams in the process. “He pushed me off. He thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he's racing the midfield,” Sainz vented over team radio, capturing the mood of a man who had been treated as little more than a speed bump on Verstappen's road back toward relevance.
Then came the moment that stopped the Miami circuit cold. On Lap 6, Liam Lawson locked up and drove directly into the side of Pierre Gasly at Turn 17, sending the Alpine flying and flipping it completely over onto the tire barrier. Gasly's car came to rest suspended on its rear right corner, a terrifying image that immediately triggered the safety car. Gasly thankfully confirmed that he was okay, but both he and Lawson were summoned to visit the stewards after the race to address the incident. Lawson retired on the spot, his afternoon over before it had properly begun. Isack Hadjar, Verstappen's Red Bull teammate, had already been relegated to a pit lane start after his new floor was found to be two millimeters too wide during post-qualifying scrutineering, leaving Red Bull's afternoon in tatters before a single lap had been run.
With the safety car neutralizing the field through Lap 11, Antonelli had reclaimed the lead from Leclerc in a feisty battle that saw the Ferrari driver go around the outside at Turn 17 before Norris swept through and the order reshuffled beneath them. When the safety car finally peeled off, the racing that followed was relentless. Verstappen, who had pitted under the safety car for hard tires, drove one of the most aggressive recovery rides of his career. By Lap 16 he was back inside the top ten and closing fast, less than 13 seconds off the lead and showing the kind of pace that makes his rivals deeply uncomfortable. An investigation into contact with Alex Albon was dropped without further action, though a potential pit-exit white line infringement was placed on the stewards' growing post-race to-do list.
The strategy battle unfolded in the middle phase of the race as teams played their pit stop hands. Russell came in on Lap 21 for hards, Ferrari reacted with Leclerc a lap later, but a slow 3.7-second stop allowed Russell to undercut him and leapfrog the Ferrari. Leclerc was understandably furious, openly questioning over the radio why his team had brought him in. Antonelli eventually pitted on Lap 26, and when Norris came in a lap later, the Mercedes man emerged just ahead of the McLaren, only for Antonelli, his tires now fully switched on, to immediately snatch the position back.
With Verstappen leading briefly while the front-runners cycled through their stops, the closing stages turned into an absolute thriller. Leclerc hunted down the Red Bull and finally made it stick at Turn 1 on Lap 47, though Verstappen fought back before Leclerc reasserted himself by Turn 11. Piastri was meanwhile carving his way forward, dispatching Leclerc at Turn 17 on Lap 49 to move into the podium fight just as the closing laps threatened to produce one final curveball. Light rain flickered back onto the radar but never materialized into anything that would disturb the slick tire runners.
With three laps remaining, Russell caught Verstappen and the two made contact at Turn 1, leaving Russell with front wing damage. In the final lap, Piastri sealed third by passing Leclerc at Turn 17, with Leclerc spinning at the very start of his last lap, then tangling with Russell's damaged car at the same corner before losing out to Verstappen at the line and slipping to sixth.
Antonelli, nursing a gearbox paddle issue and throttle concerns through the final stint, held his nerve and held off Norris to take the checkered flag. His team calmed his nerves over the radio when he reported his rear tires were gone, and the composure he showed in managing those final laps speaks to a driver maturing at a startling rate.
