Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Lando Norris, not Miami Grand Prix winner Kimi Antonelli, came out on top in the post-race driver ratings after a weekend judged more complete and cleaner than the championship leader’s.
Norris claimed his first Miami ranking win of the 2026 season after putting together Sprint pole, Sprint victory and second place in the Grand Prix for McLaren. Motorsport-Total.com described it as an “overaus konstante Wochenend-Leistung,” and Formula 1 expert Marc Surer’s only caveat was that “only the fourth starting place bothers a little.” His verdict was blunt: “Norris is back!”
That left Antonelli in the unusual position of winning from pole for Mercedes, taking his third victory of the season and stretching his championship lead to 100 points, but still finishing only third in the Miami performance rankings. Around 200 users actually gave the Italian the best reader score of the weekend at 1.42, yet his combined average came out at 1.81, behind Norris on 1.62 and Franco Colapinto on 1.79.
The reason was the same across the assessments: Antonelli’s Grand Prix was strong enough for top marks, but his weekend was not spotless. Surer said, “For pole position and victory he deserves the one, but not at all in the Sprint,” after Antonelli lost places there through a track-limits penalty. His starts also remained a weakness in Miami even as he converted pole into Mercedes’ first win at the circuit.
The split between result and rating underlined what the rankings were rewarding. Norris did not get the trophy on Sunday, but he made fewer dents in his weekend than Antonelli did. That mattered more in the three-part scoring than the final race result alone.
Colapinto was the other big mover in Miami. The Alpine driver emerged as the surprise name near the top of the ratings after beating Pierre Gasly across the weekend and delivering a strong race to score heavily. Readers gave him 2.37 and the editorial score was 2, while Surer went all the way to the top mark, saying: “To have a Gasly under control and then bring it home as well, who would have expected that?”
Miami also sharpened the contrast between drivers who maximized their package and those who let errors define the weekend. Isack Hadjar ended up last after a weaker showing than Max Verstappen and a crash in the Grand Prix. Even the readers were relatively lenient at 4.58, while the editorial panel and Surer both gave him a five. Surer said: “The Sprint was okay, but after the start from the pit lane he wanted too much.”
Verstappen escaped the bottom end, but not without damage to his score. Readers rated him at 2.30, while the editorial panel and Surer both gave him a three despite his pace. Surer called him “refreshingly strong,” but added that “two mistakes in one race are too much.”
For the title fight, Antonelli still left Miami in the strongest position. He moved clear on 100 points, with George Russell dropping to second on 80 after another pointless weekend, while Charles Leclerc stayed third on 63. Norris made the biggest gain in the standings, climbing to seventh with 27 points, but the Miami ratings suggested his weekend may have been more significant than that position alone shows.