- Lando Norris calls Kimi Antonelli “incredible” and “annoying” after Miami.
- Antonelli wins his third consecutive race; an undercut decided it all.
- McLaren scored 48 points in Miami, but Norris chasing his first 2026 win.
Lando Norris finished second at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, 3.264 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli.
The reigning world champion called the 19-year-old Mercedes driver “incredible” after the race, then added that he also finds him “annoying” because he wants to beat him.
Antonelli became only the third driver in F1 history to win his first three grands prix in a row. He also became the only one to have done it from the first three consecutive pole positions.
Norris, who leads the championship conversation as the defending title holder, acknowledged that the Italian teenager is doing everything right. He is also, plainly, not happy about it.
A weekend of contrasts for Antonelli
Antonelli’s Miami weekend had a difficult middle section. He made a poor start in Saturday’s Sprint and received a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.
Norris won that race comfortably, giving McLaren a 1-2 finish and the team’s first win of the 2026 season.
Antonelli recovered in qualifying. He was one of only two drivers to lap under 1m27s, alongside Max Verstappen, and finished four-tenths ahead of his teammate George Russell.
That put him on pole position for Sunday’s race.
The grand prix started with chaos. Antonelli and Verstappen both locked up into Turn 1, and Verstappen spun 360 degrees at Turn 2 before rejoining the race without further contact.
Charles Leclerc took the lead in the confusion. Further back, a gearbox failure on Liam Lawson’s car caused contact with Pierre Gasly, whose Alpine flipped into the barrier and brought out the safety car.
The undercut that decided it all
The pit stop sequence determined the result. Mercedes brought Antonelli in on lap 26, and McLaren responded by pitting Norris one lap later.
Antonelli posted a strong out-lap and benefited from a slightly quicker stop, which put him level with Norris as the McLaren driver rejoined the track.
Antonelli used his battery boost to move ahead and held the lead to the finish.
Norris did not dispute the strategic logic after the race.
“We just got undercut,” he told Sky Sports. “No excuses other than that. We should’ve boxed first. Kimi did a good job. Hats off to Merc and Kimi, they drove a good race.”
He also told Formula1.com: “I’m gutted to miss out on a win here in Miami. I think it was possible today, but not the pace to get back past him in the end.”
Antonelli reported downshift problems and overheating tyres in the second half of the race, but managed both issues and won by 3.264 seconds.
“Impressive” but “annoying”
Norris’s post-race comments reflected both genuine respect and competitive frustration.
He told Sky Sports that Antonelli is handling scrutiny well and outperforming Russell, a driver with far more F1 experience. Those two things, Norris said, are worth noting.
“He’s doing a very good job, hats off to him. At that age, second year in F1, he’s doing an incredible job. It’s impressive to perform under pressure, to be beating his teammate that’s been in it for a long time. He’s doing all the right things.”
In 2025, Antonelli’s rookie year, Russell outscored him by more than double, and there were questions about whether Mercedes had promoted the Italian too soon.
Norris added that Antonelli has “proven a lot of people wrong” before calling him “a very nice guy” who is also “annoying because I want to beat him.”
Where things stand
Antonelli leads the drivers’ championship with 100 points after four rounds, 20 ahead of Russell. Norris sits fourth, two points clear of Lewis Hamilton.
McLaren scored 48 points across the Miami weekend, a sign that the team is beginning to find its rhythm under the 2026 regulations.
Antonelli, for his part, kept his feet on the ground. “This is just the beginning; the road is still long,” he said in the post-race interview. “We’re working super hard, the team is doing an incredible job, and without them I wouldn’t be here.”
The championship moves to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix from May 22-24. Norris will arrive knowing he has the car and the record to compete.
What he does not yet have is an answer to a teenager who keeps finding a way to finish first.
