Miami 2026: How the Upgrades Shook Up the Pecking Order

After a longer-than-usual gap between rounds, Formula 1 returned to action in Miami for the second Sprint weekend of the season — and the freshly upgraded cars that broke cover in Florida wasted no time in scrambling the established order.

Here is how each team fared across a revealing weekend in South Florida.

Mercedes: Still the Team to Beat

Of the big four teams, Mercedes brought the fewest upgrades to Miami by some distance. Their major development push had always been earmarked for Montreal, and the team held firm to that schedule despite the extended break. Minor tweaks to the front brake ducts and exhaust were always expected to yield fractions rather than chunks of lap time.

The relative scarcity of new parts — combined with the bigger packages arriving on their rivals' cars — appeared to narrow the gap meaningfully. Both Antonelli and George Russell found themselves down the order in FP1, and for the first time this season Mercedes genuinely looked beatable. That impression hardened when Norris took Sprint pole and then controlled the 19-lap dash to lead home a McLaren 1-2, with no Silver Arrow in the top three.

But just as the narrative of a power shift was gaining momentum, Antonelli produced a defining qualifying lap to claim Grand Prix pole and went on to convert it into his third race win of the season. As David Coulthard recently noted, the young Italian has well and truly earned the right to lead this team — and Miami only reinforced that view.

The fact Antonelli was still able to win despite Mercedes running the smallest upgrade package of the top teams is a pointed reminder that the Silver Arrows' underlying advantage could only grow once their Montreal package arrives. But Sunday was their narrowest winning margin of the year. The gap is closing.

McLaren Leapfrog Ferrari

Ferrari had been Mercedes' closest challengers through the opening three rounds, with their drivers collecting a podium at each of the first three races. Both Ferrari and McLaren arrived in Miami with substantial upgrade packages, and early running suggested Leclerc could be the man to watch. But Norris found another level.

The Briton took Sprint pole by a healthy margin and delivered a dominant performance in Saturday's sprint, with Oscar Piastri picking off a slow-starting Antonelli to seal a McLaren 1-2. The upgrades had clearly worked — and McLaren's Mercedes power unit gave them an additional advantage down Miami's long straights, a benefit that appears to be compounding round by round.

On Sunday, Norris came agonisingly close to a Grand Prix win before a slow in-lap and a well-timed undercut from the Mercedes pit wall swung the result. It was a bitter outcome, with Norris vocal over the radio after the flag, but the broader picture from McLaren's weekend was overwhelmingly positive. McLaren are also awaiting FIA approval for a further aerodynamic upgrade that could close the gap even further in the coming rounds.

"I think Mercedes still possess a couple of tenths advantage over anybody else, this was most noticeable today in the race," admitted McLaren team principal Andrea Stella in the post-race debrief.

For Ferrari, overheating on Sunday cost them dearly according to team principal Fred Vasseur, who nonetheless reiterated that it will be a "full push" on the development front for the remainder of the year. Neither team is surrendering, and both bosses were quick to stress that the season remains very much in its infancy.

Red Bull Jump Back into the Mix

Red Bull have endured arguably the most difficult adaptation to the new regulations of any of the top four outfits, frequently finding themselves entangled in midfield battles rather than fighting for the podium. Miami changed that picture significantly.

Their major upgrade package paid immediate dividends, and an improved understanding of the RB22's set-up window allowed them to optimise the car to the satisfaction of both drivers. Max Verstappen delivered his quickest lap of the season in Qualifying to claim second on the grid — a genuine statement of intent. As detailed in our breakdown of Red Bull's Miami upgrade, the changes to the RB22 represent a decisive shift in their development direction.

A spin at Turns 1 and 2 in the race undoubtedly cost Verstappen a realistic shot at the podium, but fifth place — achieved while fighting with the Ferraris, McLarens and Russell on merit — was still a meaningful improvement on his sixth-place best from the opening three rounds. Team principal Laurent Mekies praised "the size of the progress" made since the season opener, pointing specifically to their qualifying pace as the clearest indicator of the gains unlocked.

The caveat, however, remains significant: Red Bull are back in the conversation, but a race win still looks some way off on current form. The next upgrade package is eagerly anticipated in Milton Keynes.

Alpine Lead the Midfield Pack

Heading into Miami, four teams had established themselves as the primary midfield combatants: Alpine, Haas, Racing Bulls and Audi. By the end of Sunday, one of those teams had pulled well clear of the others.

Alpine brought the largest upgrade package of the midfield runners to Florida — Haas and Racing Bulls had elected to save their major updates for Montreal — and the results exceeded even internal expectations. Both Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were the only midfield drivers to progress through to SQ3 and Q3. Gasly took a point with eighth in the Sprint, while Colapinto delivered a career-best seventh-place finish in the Grand Prix, lifting Alpine ahead of Haas in the Constructors' Championship. Colapinto himself credited the new Alpine chassis as the key factor behind his historic result.

The Mercedes power unit gives the A526 a natural advantage on power-sensitive circuits, and the team's development trajectory is pointing in the right direction. The question is whether that lead will survive the upgrade wave heading their way from Haas and Racing Bulls in Montreal.

Williams Remain a Mystery — But a Promising One

The true pace of Williams in 2026 is still difficult to calibrate with confidence. They are clearly ahead of Aston Martin and Cadillac, but an overweight car has kept them from matching the pace of the established midfield quartet.

Both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz had managed expectations ahead of the weekend, acknowledging that the excess weight problem was unlikely to be resolved quickly — it is, by all accounts, a season-long project. But a set of targeted upgrades in Miami delivered more than expected. Williams got both cars into Q2 for the first time this season, and both went on to score points: Sainz ninth, Albon tenth.

On pure pace, that result placed them above Haas and Racing Bulls for the weekend — no small achievement given the circumstances.

"It's great to see the hard work of the last five weeks, and the aero package all adding up, putting us in a stronger place than we started the season," said team principal James Vowles afterwards. "It's still a long road, but the positive news is that there's more performance to come throughout the rest of the season."

If Williams can continue converting development into results at this rate, the midfield grouping of four could very soon become five.