2026 Miami Grand Prix – McLaren Race Report

Miami International Autodrome, Sunday, 3 May

Find out what happened during the Miami Grand Prix at the Miami International Autodrome, and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella.

McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team continued their performance progression with a double podium finish in this afternoon's 2026 Miami Grand Prix, adding to the strong points haul secured in Saturday’s Sprint victory, making them the most successful team of the weekend with a takeaway of 48 overall points in their championship bid.

In a Grand Prix where McLaren have previously experienced success for a number of years, Lando Norris climbed two places to secure P2 with an impressive drive. The defending World Champion ran closely with Pole sitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli throughout the race, battling hard and demonstrating the improved pace in the MCL40. The British driver put up a strong performance against the Mercedes works car that has led the pack all season, leading to Lando taking his points total for the weekend to 26.

Teammate Oscar Piastri worked hard after starting slightly further down the grid. Despite this, Oscar showed his race craft, working well through the field to gain four places, passing Charles Leclerc on the final lap to earn his second podium of the season with a P3 finish.

This weekend’s performance from both cars showed that if execution and optimisation are maximised, victories can be achieved. However, with the closeness of competition and performance between four teams at this stage of the season, the smallest of margins can lead to potentially falling slightly behind the leading challengers we have seen in the opening four rounds of the 2026 season.

The introduction of the first phase of MCL40 developments delivered this weekend have proved successful across all sessions, and with further upgrades from the same group of initial evolution phase planned for the next championship round in Canada, the papaya team will continue to work hard towards gaining even more improvement in competitiveness.

With a week back at the factory available, the McLaren Mastercard team have plenty of learnings to build on to continue making a step in the right direction, as witnessed this weekend. Focus will remain on maximising performance and development across the chassis and power unit exploitation, while the drivers will continue to increase their time on the simulator ahead of the multiple competitive opportunities available in Montreal with the third Sprint race of the season.

“We leave Miami with mixed feelings. As a team, we should be proud: two cars on the podium, a big points haul, and a clear step forward that put us in a genuine fight for the win. I felt I drove very well all weekend and extracted everything from the car. Credit to Kimi, he managed a strong race and Mercedes clearly still have an edge.

“At the same time, it hurts because a win was possible. We’ll review what we could have done differently and keep pushing to bring more performance, especially in the high-speed corners where Mercedes are very strong. Miami suits us, but Canada has traditionally favoured them, so we’ll stay patient, keep our heads down, and judge our progress over the next few races. We’re proud of the step, but we want to be the best. This is a long season, and we’re here to fight.”

"To come away with a double podium is really positive for the team. Overall, I am very happy with how we performed today. Going long was the right call, and we had some good battles out on track. We probably had a little more in us, and there were some tough moments out there, but the pace is really encouraging, and it's always nice to be on the podium.

"We're not quite back in the position we were last year, and there is still a gap to Mercedes, but we are definitely getting closer. Thank you to the whole team for all of their work in delivering this package, we've made a good step forward, so let's see what we can do in Canada."

Andrea Stella

Team Principal

"This was a very positive weekend for the entire team, and while you always want to convert a race lead into a victory, we are delighted with a double podium. It’s a strong result that gives us a great sense of encouragement and satisfaction. We shouldn’t forget where we started from this season: to have a weekend with a Sprint Quali Pole position, a Sprint Race 1-2 and a double podium today fighting for the victory until the last few laps shows the incredible progress we are making together as a team. This outcome doesn't change our positive momentum; it reinforces it.

"Our upgrades performed exactly as we had hoped, and I want to thank every single person back at McLaren for their talent and hard work that made this step forward possible. We know Mercedes still has a slight advantage; a couple of tenths, and we really need to rely on a perfect execution to be in condition to beat them at this stage. We lost some small margins in execution today, that we will review and improve back in Woking ahead of our next race in Canada.

“The development battle will be crucial this season with four teams in condition to fight for Pole position and victories. Our development pathway has lots in the pipeline, with parts planned for Canada and a few more in Monaco, and Spain. We are in the fight, and we believe this sets the stage for a very interesting championship battle for the fans and Formula 1.”