All articles tagged with #mclaren
Antonelli extended his win streak to four with a Montreal masterclass as McLaren's wet-weather gamble backfired and left Norris and Piastri without points; Hamilton seized victory in a cat-and-mouse duel with Verstappen, while Russell led early before an engine failure and Colapinto earned a career-best sixth for Alpine as the Canadian GP reshaped the title battle.
Teenage Kimi Antonelli wins the Miami Grand Prix from pole after strategic pit stops and a late pass, extending his season lead to 100 points and signaling McLaren's resurgence amid a chaotic sprint weekend.
After a five-week break, the Miami GP delivered drama as Kimi Antonelli won his third race of the year amid chaotic on-track action. The Guardian praised Antonelli’s composure and suggested Mercedes is still leading with him at the helm, while Marca highlighted Verstappen’s early spin. L’Equipe and La Gazzetta dello Sport framed Antonelli as a serious title contender, noting McLaren’s updates and Mercedes’ pace, despite Ferrari’s late penalty for Leclerc. Overall, the international press painted a weekend of high tension and a rising mandate for Mercedes/McLaren in the title fight.
Kimi Antonelli seized a Miami win to reinforce his title credentials, while McLaren capitalized on upgrades with a sprint victory and a double-podium weekend. Isack Hadjar struggled for pace at Red Bull, Franco Colapinto impressed Alpine by climbing to seventh after a delayed pitstop, and Audi’s reliability woes persisted. Williams earned a rare double-points haul as the midfield mix intensified, though Ferrari endured misfortune with Hamilton and Leclerc’s incidents and penalties.
Kimi Antonelli converted pole to win the Miami Grand Prix, extending his World Championship lead to 20 points as Norris finished second and Piastri third; Leclerc spun on the last lap to sixth and Verstappen was fifth. The race, moved to 1 p.m. due to storms and the first in the U.S. under new rules, showcased Antonelli’s rise as F1’s youngest-ever championship leader and the ongoing intra-team and manufacturer battles in a season reshaped by the regulations.
Pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli led a Mercedes-boosted qualifying session as McLaren’s updated package delivered a strong sprint 1-2 for Norris and Piastri; Verstappen closed the gap but couldn’t topple the Italian, with Ferrari showing progress from its updates but still behind. The Miami sprint was defined by rear-tyre overheating on a hot, low-grip, wind-affected track, and unpredictable weather on Sunday could shuffle the order again.
Lando Norris converted pole into a 19-lap Miami sprint victory, beating teammate Oscar Piastri by 3.7 seconds for a McLaren 1-2; Charles Leclerc finished third. Kimi Antonelli crossed the line fourth but received a five-second post-race penalty for track-limit infringements, dropping him to sixth behind George Russell and Max Verstappen, who finished fifth. The result gave McLaren their first win of the 2026 season and highlighted the upgraded package on the car at Miami.
Lando Norris topped sprint qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix in an upgraded McLaren, beating championship leader Kimi Antonelli to take sprint pole as Mercedes suffered its first qualifying defeat of 2026 following mid‑season upgrades; Norris clocked 1m27.869s in SQ3, with Leclerc, Piastri and Verstappen close behind as Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull pushed hard after the break.
Gianpiero Lambiase will leave Red Bull to join McLaren, underscoring Red Bull’s upheaval as key staff depart and Verstappen’s future becomes increasingly tied to the team’s performance under new 2026 rules; McLaren’s leadership-driven turnaround under Zak Brown and Andrea Stella is accelerating, with Lambiase’s arrival intended to free Stella to focus more on leadership while strengthening McLaren’s overall competitiveness.
GianPiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s race engineer since 2016 and Red Bull’s head of racing since 2024, will leave Red Bull to join McLaren on a lucrative contract, with a potential move timeline around 2028 when his current deal ends; his exact role at McLaren is unclear, potentially as a senior race engineer or a deputy to team principal Andrea Stella.
Long-time Red Bull engineer Gianpiero Lambiase will leave Red Bull at the end of 2027 to join McLaren on a multi‑million‑pound contract, ending his 2016‑era partnership with Max Verstappen and signaling potential leadership reshuffles at McLaren after recent poaches from Red Bull.
Oscar Piastri lightheartedly referenced a Mario Kart mushroom to Charles Leclerc in the Japanese Grand Prix cooldown room, a moment that entertained the podium trio as Ollie Bearman’s dramatic crash dominated the session and the ongoing chatter around 2026 power-unit tech echoed the game-inspired analogy.
McLaren confirms two separate Mercedes HPP battery faults crashed Norris and Piastri out of the Chinese Grand Prix: Norris’s unit was software-bricked and deemed permanently damaged, while Piastri’s fault was a hardware issue with an auxiliary connector—both electrical-side problems prompting a double non-start as McLaren and Mercedes investigate the root causes ahead of Suzuka.
Lando Norris suffered a late electrical fault on his McLaren that forced the floor to be removed and prevented him from exiting the garage before the Chinese Grand Prix; the issue left him potentially starting from the pit lane and, in the update, Norris did not start the race, with teammate Oscar Piastri also not starting.
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri crashed during the Australian Grand Prix reconnaissance laps after an unexpected 100kW power spike from his Mercedes engine; the incident left the car damaged and prevented him from starting the race. He called the moment shocking and attributed part of the fault to cold tyres and using the exit kerb, emphasizing the power surge as a key factor.