McLaren tightens the screws on Antonelli, who also wins in Miami

Neither the criticisms, nor the debates, nor even the express intervention of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) are enough to try to correct the most controversial regulation in the history of Formula 1. The best news from the Miami Grand Prix was the almost five weeks that passed since the last time both sides saw each other on track, a time window generated by the cancellations of the Bahrain and Jeddah events, which made it possible for the teams to regroup in their factories, to present themselves in the United States with practically new cars. The winner of the fourth stop on the calendar was the same as the previous two events, but the nature of Kimi Antonelli’s victory in Florida had nothing to do with the wins he achieved in Japan and China. There, the opulence of Mercedes made it possible for the young Bolognese to comfortably distance himself from the pack and take the lead in the points table, ahead of an uncomfortable George Russell, his teammate in the star team, the relentless dominator of the scene since preseason, when the cars designed under the new regulations hit the track for the first time.

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This time, in Miami, Antonelli and Mercedes had much more work to impose themselves, especially due to the return of McLaren and Lando Norris, the current world champions, the most diligent during the break. The Briton ran glued to the Italian’s rear practically from start to finish, and the two gradually pulled away from the rest as the laps went by. Behind them, sometimes Oscar Piastri, who secured the double podium that certifies the revitalization of the papaya cars team; other times, Max Verstappen (fifth), who spun at the start and caused tremendous chaos; and also Charles Leclerc (sixth), who was a hair’s breadth from ending up against the wall on the last lap, alternated, although they never had a chance to think about winning. Carlos Sainz crossed the finish line ninth after Williams managed to reduce a couple of kilos of the overweight of the Grove (Great Britain) prototype, while Fernando Alonso finished 15th, in another unlucky weekend for Aston Martin.

McLaren is back and their car, at least in Miami, was able to threaten Mercedes’. The Saturday track, with the double in the sprint, was confirmed the next day. In fact, Antonelli’s victory, his third in a row, was not so much due to speed as to strategy, thanks to an overtake in the garages (lap 27) in the only tire change made by those ahead. The more than 15 seconds that separated the Silver Arrows from the rest (Leclerc) in the World Championship debut (Australia) were reduced to three in the fourth race of the year, in the numerical verification of McLaren’s comeback, which has another quality leap scheduled for its MCL40 in Canada, in two weeks. “I should have won this race. We tried, and it’s good to see how much we’ve progressed. We can win again if we make things a little easier for ourselves,” Norris said, frustrated, over the radio. “This weekend we have shown that, if we have track position in our favor, we are capable of maintaining it,” warned Piastri.

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