F1 Miami Grand Prix: Mercedes suffer nightmare start as Ferrari pounce

Leclerc during FP1 in Miami — Photo: © IMAGO

Miami Grand Prix Sprint

Mercedes suffer nightmare start as Ferrari pounce in Miami

The sprint race got underway on Saturday

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 2 May 2026 18:25

EARLY REPORT: Mercedes F1's world championship leader Kimi Antonelli once again suffered a bad start at the Miami Grand Prix.

During the sprint race, Antonelli dropped down from second to fourth before turn one, being overtaken by McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

While Ferrari's normal fast starts weren't necessarily on show for the sprint race, Leclerc still managed to make up a place, while Lewis Hamilton also got ahead of Max Verstappen by the end of lap two.

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Leclerc said via team radio about Mercedes' Antonelli: "Kimi is so bad on wheel to wheel. He moved under braking, it's unbelievable we're going to crash."

Polesitter Lando Norris got off the line well and led the Miami GP sprint race in the early stages, with team-mate Piastri in second.

Antonelli just can't nail the start

Despite leading the world championship, Antonelli has made life hard for himself in Australia, China, Japan and now Miami this season.

His Japanese GP victory came after dropping down from pole to sixth at the start of the race, but he recovered well thanks to a fortunately timed safety car.

Antonelli said after that particular race that he would spend the spring break in the season to specifically work on his starts in the new 2026 cars, having struggled off the line in his dominant Mercedes car.

But on the evidence of the Miami GP sprint race, Mercedes will be justified to ask quite what he has been doing in the last five weeks.

Antonelli did, however, manage to stay ahead of team-mate and championship rival George Russell in the early stages of the shortened sprint race.

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F1 Ferrari Mercedes Miami Grand Prix