Back after a break, back to the sunshine state!
As we go back to Miami the question is will Mclaren continue their Miami dominant streak or will they be overthrown?
After dominating the last two years races at the Miami International Autodrome it looks like McLaren’s dominant streak will come to an end with a Rocketship of a Mercedes storming through the 2026 season so far. And with Ferrari proving their worth not far behind them the Mclaren team will need to use the unscheduled break wisely if they want to hold their win streak over the sunshine state’s Miami Grand prix.
With the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grand Prix’s being cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East it means that the fourth race of the 2026 season will be Miami, creating a mix up in the drivers learning of the new regulations. However, the month break gives teams that are falling behind such as McLaren and Red bull time to possibly fix any issues they were experiencing and ensure that they are back for fighting standard at the front of the pack.
With the young 19 year old Kimi Antonelli leading the championship, and the first three races in Australia, China and Japan all being won by a Mercedes driver. It looks like the Miami tides might change for the silver arrows as they continue to fly to victory.
Within this article you will receive all the information you need to know about the Miami grand prix and its past four years of races preceding the 2026 season.
Location, Date and times
Miami International Autodrome, hard rock stadium
1st – 3rd May 2026
Race start time- 9pm BST, 4pm EST
Aerial image of turn 8 where the ‘fake’ marina used to be located. Credits: Sky Sports
Race winning history
2022- Max Verstappen stormed past Charles Leclerc on lap 9 with a smart move into turn 1. Before he held onto the front through a safety car restart to win the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
2023- Polesitter Sergio Perez seemed powerless to stop a powerful Max Verstappen charging through who stormed to his second Miami win, despite starting P9 on the grid.
2024- Lando Norris secured a maiden F1 victory, with Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen who crashed which brought out the safety car. The McLaren driver stormed into the lead and held on under harsh pressure from Max Verstappen.
2025- Oscar Piastri proved his skills last year when he snatched the lead from Verstappen at turn one on lap 14, before delivering a win which coincided with a papaya 1-2 that began McLaren's dominant run in the 2025 season.
Statistics about the track
- 5.41km layout
- 19 corners
- 3 straights
- Top speeds of over 350kph
- Elevation changes between turns 13 and 16
- Chicane at turns 14 and 15
- The best views can be found on grandstands near turns one, 11 and 18
- The inaugural event included a ‘fake’ Marina with yachts set in the middle of the parking lot, which was later replaced with a fan zone
- Recent developments include the addition of ‘inner loop’ configurations, which allows for smaller racing series to utilise parts of the track year round without massive city road closures.
Image of the starting grid at the Miami Grand Prix 2023. Credits: F1
Race weekend events
This year’s Miami Grand prix is stacked with events, from things to watch to fan zones to experience.
This year is another sprint race which means that Friday is free practice 1 and sprint qualifying, then Saturday you have the sprint and qualifying then finally on Sunday is the race.
If you want to meet up with other fans and possibly meet some lower league drivers from F2 then head over to the fan zone that is where the ‘fake’ marina used to be in the inaugural race.
Rendering of the paddock before the inaugural 2022 Formula One race. Credits: FIA
Track history
The track is built around the Miami Dolphins Hard Rock stadium; it was designed specifically to host the F1. However now it also hosts formula one's feeder series within a formula one race weekend. The construction of the Miami Grand Prix track and infrastructure involved approximately 14,000,000 lbs or 7000 tonnes of steel and aluminium.
From the inaugural 2022 event some construction details are:
Total time took to build: 11 months
Bolts used: 1.3 million
Amount of asphalt: 24,000 tonnes
Concrete used: 1130 tonnes
Barriers and fencing used: 37,000 linear feet
Structures: 14 bridges, 10 grandstands and 53 temporary hospitality buildings (single and multi-level)
Despite being a temporary circuit, it holds a contract until 2041, so the track underwent significant resurfacing and refinements after its initial debut in 2022.
Before its inaugural F1 race in 2022, Miami hosted motor sporting events in the 1980s at Bicentennial park and Tamiami park. Though there was a long-standing desire to host a major international, street-style or top tier open-wheel racing event which is where the Formula One came in.
Four bad crashes in the last four years
2022- Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly
2022- Carlos Sainz in FP2
2025- Fernando Alonzo and Liam Lawson
2025- Charles Leclerc in a wet sprint race
Who would be who?
Three overtakes in three years
2025- Alex Albon powered past Kimi Antonelli for P5 on Lap 31, he sped past him at turn one with expert precision.
2024- Sergio Perez overtook Oscar Piastri who loses position and leaves an open gap for Lewis Hamilton to storm past him as well. Piastri went from fifth to seventh in milliseconds before a slow pitstop which sent him down to P18.
2023- Max Verstappen on lap four used DRS to seamlessly overtake the battling cars of Kevin Magnussen and Charles Leclerc to go from eighth to sixth.
Qualifying lap times in the last four races
Taking a look at the starting grid of the past four races we could wonder if it will be similar or if due to the Mercedes power engine and the Ferrari being up to speed so far this season, we will see a switch up in the starting grid. The question still poses if McLaren will be able to bring some improvements after the break and retain their hold over the sunshine state’s streets.
2022
Ferrari
1’28.796
C.Sainz
Ferrari
1’28.986
M.Verstappen
Red Bull
1’28.991
S.Perez
Red Bull
1’29.036
V.Bottas
Alfa Romeo
1’29.475
L.Hamilton
Mercedes
1’29.625
P.Gasly
Alpha Tauri
1’29.690
L.Norris
McLaren
1’29.750
Y.Tsunoda
Alpha Tauri
1’29.932
L.Stroll
Aston martin
1’30.676
(started from pit lane)
2023
S.Perez
Red Bull
1’26.841
F.Alonso
Aston Martin
1’27.202
C.Sainz
Ferrari
1’27.349
K.Magnussen
Haas
1’27.767
P.Gasly
Alpine
1’27.786
G.Russell
Mercedes
1’27.804
Ferrari
1’27.861
E.Ocon
Alpine
1’27.935
M.Verstappen
Red Bull
V.Bottas
Alfa Romeo
2024
M.Verstappen
Red Bull
1’27.241
Ferrari
1’27.382
C.Sainz
Ferrari
1’27.455
S.Perez
Red Bull
1’27.460
L.Norris
McLaren
1’27.594
O.Piastri
McLaren
1’27.675
G.Russell
Mercedes
1’28.067
L.Hamilton
Mercedes
1’28.107
N.Hulkenberg
Haas
1’28.146
Y.Tsunoda
Racing Bulls
1’28.192
2025
M.Verstappen
Red Bull
1’26.204
L.Norris
McLaren
1’26.269
K.Antonelli
Mercedes
1’26.271
O.Piastri
McLaren
1’26.375
G.Russell
Mercedes
1’26.385
C.Sainz
Williams
1’26.569
A.Albon
Williams
1’26.682
Ferrari
1’26.754
E.Ocon
Haas
1’26.824
Y.Tsunoda
Red Bull
1’26.94