“Tougher” Miami F1 no surprise for Mercedes: “They’ve closed the gap massively”

Formula 1 championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli says Mercedes was “expecting” a “tougher” Miami Grand Prix, as its rivals have “closed the gap massively”.

Mercedes has been the dominant force at the start of the 2026 season, winning all three grands prix, as well as the China sprint, and qualifying on pole at every round.

But its qualifying run was halted on Saturday in Miami, as McLaren’s Lando Norris snatched sprint pole from Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull brought significant upgrade packages to Miami, while Mercedes has deferred its updates to the Canadian Grand Prix.

Antonelli was just under three tenths down on Norris’ sprint pole time, though his SQ3 run represented his only soft tyre lap of the day, after an engine issue ended his FP1 early.

Team-mate George Russell was only sixth, behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

“We definitely felt we were expecting this weekend to be quite a bit tougher, because those teams, everyone brought major upgrades, which obviously they’ve closed the gap massively, or even went in front of us,” the Italian said.

“So, definitely the McLarens, they’ve got the same PU as us, and they’ve improved the car a lot.

“So, it was expected for them to be at the front.

“But I think we can be in the fight and that’s what we’re going to try to do tomorrow and on Sunday as well.”

Antonelli says the Mercedes struggled for pace on the medium tyres through sprint qualifying, but “became more alive” on the soft rubber in SQ3.

With his lack of soft tyre running coming into sprint qualifying on Friday, Antonelli believes there is time on the table for him.

“It was a pretty messy session,” he explained.

“I struggled a lot with the car, and with the medium I couldn’t get a good lap in.

“And then on the soft, all of a sudden, the car became more alive, I felt more comfortable.

“Of course, it was a shame not to try the soft in FP1, but I think there was a little bit left on the table.

“But I think, despite everything, it was a decent result, and with the team we did a great job on recovering.

“Now we look forward to tomorrow. Definitely, we will dig deep tonight to see where we can be better in order to be faster tomorrow.”