The Kimi ERA in F1...again | The Return of Old Max Verstappen | 2026 Miami GP Review

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[00:00:30] Kimi Antonelli has won 3 Formula 1 races in a row. I did not expect to be saying this in 2026. I thought I'd say this in 2028 or something. But it's true. And Kimi Antonelli has now won 3 races in a row. He's taken pole in 3 in a row as well.

[00:00:47] And it's unbelievable that a 19-year-old is breaking records left, right and centre and is now the leading Mercedes driver in this first little period of the Formula 1 season. Can you believe it, Kunal, that George Russell is not the person taking all the acclaim? It's Kimi Antonelli. He's been the one beating the McLarens.

[00:01:09] George is not taking the acclaim. He's definitely not scoring the points. He's not even leading Mercedes' charge to back-to-back races and George Russell didn't even make it to the podium. And we'll get to George, okay, but what's the stat? What is so appealing about Kimi? He's suddenly being discussed in the company of legends.

[00:01:29] So what are the most impressive stats? Drivers to take their first three consecutive poles. Senna, Schumacher, Antonelli. We heard this on Saturday after qualifying, so we already knew that. Drivers to take their first three wins in consecutive races. Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Antonelli. So that's happened on Sunday.

[00:01:50] There's one more thing that happened on Sunday. Drivers to consecutively win their first three races from their first three pole positions. There's just one. That's Andrea Kimi Antonelli. He has given Mercedes their first win ever in Miami. And Miami was the only circuit sommel where Mercedes had not scored a win amongst all the 24 other races on the calendar.

[00:02:15] And it's a McLaren circuit. They have beaten McLaren at a McLaren track. And they ended up outsmarting McLaren too. I honestly thought this would be a race where Lando Norris would seriously have a really strong case. Initially, it seemed like it. In the first stint, of course, there was Charles Leclerc to contend with.

[00:02:37] But we all knew the Mercedes and the McLaren were faster. But then afterwards, after the pit stops, it was surprising to see McLaren be so lost. And they were clearly undercut by Mercedes. And the best part is we are being able to discuss all these different things. The first lap, the undercut, Antonelli winning, the fact that Russell's not there, the fact that Lando Norris had a good weekend and Oscar Piastri didn't. The fact that we saw Max Verstappen, it just tells you that we had a good race, Kunal. We really had a good race.

[00:03:07] We had such a good race that we had five different race leaders. Leclerc, Antonelli, Verstappen, Norris, Piastri. Can you imagine George Russell's name doesn't even appear in the drivers who led the race? That's how much chaos there was. There was a lot of chaos. We'll talk about it. I would say it was an entertaining race when Max Verstappen won the Driver of the Day award. Chetan and I on the Hindi broadcast on FanCord were debating if that was the right driver to win or should it have been given to Kimi Antonelli?

[00:03:36] And we were actually torn. And Chetan thought it could have been to Kimi Antonelli, clearly for the display that he had. Fantastic talent. Bad start yet again, but still managed to win. And we'll get to the one move that made him win the race, Samil. But I thought Max Verstappen clearly was the entertainer of the weekend, which is why one of the names in the title is the return of the old Max Verstappen. And that's what I'm most excited about. We saw the old Verstappen.

[00:04:02] Yeah, we saw the old Verstappen. But this is the new Kimi. This is the new racing of Formula One. Where did Kimi Antonelli win it? Mercedes executed two undercuts. Both of them gave their drivers track position. George Russell on Lando Norris track position. No, George Russell was on Leclerc. Sorry. So Mercedes, two undercuts. George Russell on Charles Leclerc, undercut track position. We'll get to Ferrari's reaction, Leclerc's reaction.

[00:04:27] But the biggest one, the most yielding one was Antonelli on Lando Norris. So much so that Andrea Stella said post-race that Kimi's outlap was phenomenal. So yet again, Kimi knew that moment of the race when he needed to step up, use everything he could. And he did. He did that in Japan. He flew away with it. He did that even now in Miami. He had brake issues. He had gearbox issues. He had paddle shifts that were not working. He drove around them.

[00:04:56] And he absorbed that level of pressure from a world champion chasing him in Lando Norris. That's masterful. Having that control of being able to extract performance when you want it is outstanding. And you could sense it with that undercut. Antonelli, well, he was just solid. He was just solid. I was especially hoping for a good race for Kimi Antonelli after him ending up losing points for a track limits violation in the sprint. And I thought, man, that's just so raw. We need more refinement.

[00:05:26] And on Sunday, we saw that with an incredible race by Kimi Antonelli. Very solid, actually. Especially impressive is the part that he was patient yet decisive when battling with Verstappen and Leclerc. Verstappen ahead and Leclerc behind. It's a very tricky spot to be in because the car ahead is slower. The car behind is also trying to attack you. Antonelli was just very confident in his abilities. And yes, there are rough edges, but he's really getting at it. The question has to be looped again.

[00:05:55] Did Mercedes win because they had Kimi Antonelli at the top of the field? And would George Russell have been able to do something similar? David Kulthar pointed that out on the F1 TV broadcast. Is it the Kimi Antonelli effect? And is he the reason why Mercedes is beating McLaren? Because otherwise, Kunal, McLaren looked the dominant car, not dominant at least, but the better car in parts of the weekend, especially the sprint. But then Antonelli, after qualifying and on the main race, he did something special. He brought out that little X factor.

[00:06:23] He did. And, you know, George Russell, since we're talking about George Russell, actually came into the media pen after the race. And he said, this race is definitely an outlier. You're allowed to have an outlier when a championship season is so long. And he said, I'm actually standing here with my head high because I still know I delivered. Australia, it was fastest. China was fastest. And he actually rattled out his results.

[00:06:45] So clearly, the whole movement from the media, the movement towards Kimi Antonelli, even in the driver's championship, that he's now got a lead, is probably getting to George Russell saying, oh, my goodness. Yes, Kimi's run away with it. But McLaren have come calling, which means I will lose more points to Kimi, not just by finishing second, but I'm suddenly off the podium. Oh, Ferrari is also there. And guess what? Max is also there. So at the end of the day, I would say it's the Kimi effect.

[00:07:12] And he seems, you know, the way Kimi is so friendly, you know, doesn't take himself so seriously, not a lot of air. And he just makes it look so simple. But I'm pretty sure it's not simple because you've got world champion drivers and drivers hungry for a world championship chasing you down. It's just what he's done all his life. It's just what he's done all his life. He's the most comfortable when he's behind a race car. So kudos to Kimi Antonelli. But let's also point out one thing.

[00:07:39] In 2022, after round five, Charles Leclerc was leading the world championship ahead of Max Verstappen by 19 points. Today, Kimi Antonelli is ahead of George Russell by 20. It's a long season, my friends. It's a long season. We may all be gravitating towards Kimi, but it's a long year. It's a long year. And this level of dominance and the kind of points gap that Kimi has also was what Max had in 2023, I guess. Or Kimi's is probably better.

[00:08:08] So we will look back. And you know, a lot of this 2026 is also... Actually, in 2023, Perez was pretty close by. I just checked that stat out as well. Sergio Perez was only 14 points behind in 2023. Max was at 120 points. Kimi's now at 100. They have more competition. They do. But Kimi Antonelli, he won with that strong outlap. That outlap which made Landon Norris lose the race lead. Do you believe this was another race lead that McLaren lost?

[00:08:37] Because they lost, of course, in Japan with the safety car, you know, giving a cheaper pit stop to Kimi Antonelli. I got a feeling McLaren should have won this. McLaren just said we needed track position. All we needed was track position. And we've seen clean air is king as they say that. And Landon Norris would, you know, if Oscar Piastri lost it in Japan, Landon Norris, I would say, lost it in Miami. And this was not luck. It was just strategy, you know, Mercedes outsmarting them. And I must say this. I said this on the official broadcast as well, Samin. McLaren are still the benchmark.

[00:09:07] Their engine maps were eventually what Mercedes used after learning on Friday how McLaren was deploying even more optimally. Imagine you're a customer. You're just using that power unit better. And what did we say in the first three races of the season? That Mercedes should just distribute customer maps to their customer team so we get better competition. But guess what? McLaren should be doing that. So give everyone a Mercedes engine for the race. Give everyone a Ferrari engine for the start and the opening lap.

[00:09:37] And give everyone then the McLaren engine map. Is that where we are going? And maybe give everyone the McLaren chassis as well. That was phenomenal. And then we'll come to a spec series race. And then we'll call it Formula 1.2 or 2.1. No, I don't know what we'll call it. But no, on that, it just makes me think about this whole McLaren situation again.

[00:10:00] I have flashbacks from 2025 where McLaren was so badly outsmarted by Red Bull time and time again on the strategy front. And Qatar was the biggest example of it. It just makes you think, right? Are McLaren incredible at engineering but average at race strategy execution? Because Mercedes really got them with an undercut. It's a simple undercut. An easy, clear one. And some may say McLaren were tentative. I felt that.

[00:10:29] I felt them being a little tentative. And that's just very easy for me to say sitting inside a beautiful AC room with no consequences, nothing to worry about, no bosses on top of my head. I'm not making those decisions. But zooming out and looking at a broader spectrum of things, we have seen that McLaren have consistently been beaten by Mercedes and Red Bull in terms of strategy. And it clearly is an area, Kunal, where they can do better.

[00:10:52] I just wonder if it's McLaren being very methodical in the way they do things, that this is the circumstance under which we shall do a certain thing. Like last year, we saw that with their papaya rules and both their drivers that they had pre-agreed conditions and scenarios. I don't know what the situation here must have been. Maybe they must have a direct target map and Mercedes must have thought, all right, we can go one earlier because why not? And that ended up working. Yeah, I think everything is still so new.

[00:11:17] I think we are still settling in within what's a correct strategy because a lot of times this was not about IR tires done with because clearly the tires were lasting. Remember, the cars are not cornering as fast, the loads are not as much. So it was just about finding a time, how long you wanted to run on the hard tire and then just calling a stop. So they will learn. And I don't believe necessarily McLaren have been that bad in the previous, you know, the last second half of last year, specifically against Red Bull.

[00:11:44] But you never know your memory about these things are better than mine. And what else did we say about McLaren? So very interesting you mentioned strategy and something that F1 tried to sell F1 2026 to us by saying drivers, intelligent drivers will actually do better. They will understand power deployment through a lap and use power deployment to their advantage. Lando Norris, I caught him on the radio doing that with his race engineer. He was very specific about where he wanted overtake and boost to be used and how he wanted it to be used.

[00:12:14] He said entry into turn 17. So after the long straight from 16 to 17, I want one button. I press that and I get overtake. And they kept trying different variations so that he got the boost at a position where he thought he was in the best place to make an overtake. It didn't work eventually. But again, it was one of those examples that here's a driver actually realizing I'm doing everything I can. Can I use power deployment differently to try and engineer an overtake? New Formula One. I actually enjoyed that. I really did.

[00:12:43] I think I really enjoyed the way the drivers were using overtake and boost mode to be able to get past each other. If anything, I felt the new regulations definitely made a difference. They definitely made the racing more fun and made qualifying less terrible than it was. Qualifying for the first three rounds was atrocious. But then, actually no, wait, we're in round three, aren't we? We're in round four, so you're right. Yeah, first three rounds. Oh man, sometimes you forget.

[00:13:12] For the first three rounds, qualifying was atrocious. This weekend, qualifying was not as bad. There was less lifting and coasting, more super clipping, but it felt less impactful in the grand scheme of things. And you could feel the drivers just get more towards the edge of their car. It didn't feel like they were lifting and coasting and were having to be managing energy during a qualifying lap. And during the race, Kunal, I was thinking, okay, whatever changes happen, happen. Does it make the race more interesting than what we had in the middle of 23 or middle of 24?

[00:13:43] That's what my benchmark was. Is this Formula One race today better than a race I would have watched in 2019 or 2023 or 2024? And I think it was because we had more teams and drivers fighting for the win, more action across multiple aspects of the race to start and the end, some strategic variation, and two drivers actually able to follow each other along within a one, two second gap for the entire race. I think that's success. Yeah, like I said, five different race leaders that we had.

[00:14:11] We had top five, top six positions being settled on, you know, four out of the six positions being settled onto the last lap. Opening lap, Max Verstappen spins, does a 360 right in the middle of the pack. I loved it. You know, they were boisterous that I own this piece of tarmac and everything I'm spinning around. And then on the last lap of the race, it was Charles Leclerc. Tagged the wall, tried to drive around slowly, catch everything. George Russell overtook him. Max Verstappen overtook him. And, you know, I think, yes, it was a great race.

[00:14:40] But let's not react based on one race because this was also an energy-dense circuit. There were lots of braking zones. You were able to recharge. But having said that, I like that there was almost no discussion around boost mode and overtake mode was just down to when a driver had it or didn't. Again, I go back to what Stefano said. Not all fans are like engineers wanting to know what was your mega-joule deployment.

[00:15:05] So, you know, it was good that, okay, Oscar's got overtake on Leclerc and he's going to press a button, get more energy recovery through the lap. Fair. That's absolutely fine. You know, much like we had DRS. So, all in all, I think it was a good improvement to what we saw, especially with qualifying, safety, with the race starts and so on. And there was a lot of chaos, you know, that chaos went into now. There is a post-race. There are lots of incidents being discussed post-race. So, Leclerc going off tracks, cutting four corners.

[00:15:34] He's probably going to get a penalty. George Russell and Max Verstappen. George Russell tapping Max Verstappen on turn one. That is under discussion. Then I think Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell on the last corner. That's under discussion multiple times. So, I don't think the final race result is going to be final after three, four hours of this live stream. But the one thing is for sure is Kimi Antonelli, who had just two track limit strikes, will keep his win. Yeah, it was good. You're right.

[00:16:03] There's, see, so many elements. Track limits, spins, drivers being flipped onto a wall, drivers hitting a wall and then crashing out themselves and then being frustrated for a whole minute. That happened to, yeah, that was Isaac Acha. He tapped a wall at the underpass section, let's just call it that. And then eventually ended up being frustrated with himself to the point that he was literally hitting his knuckles on the car for a whole minute. When he was inside the car, when he was getting out of the car, when he was out of the car as well. That's fun.

[00:16:33] Like we, we may sometimes get so embroiled in the technicalities of Formula One that we end up forgetting that we're seeing different characters in display. Like a humble Kimi Antonelli winning and saying, oh, thanks to the team. It's all thanks to them. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. And then an Isaac Acha being so frustrated. And then George Russell fighting even with a slightly damaged front wing. And that's causing sparks, but he's still fighting. And then Max Verstappen, who's able to catch out a spin, says, sorry, that's all me.

[00:17:02] And then zooms past so many other cars. And Carlos Sauer is being annoyed by the fact that he's being so aggressive. It's, there's entertainment everywhere you look. And Franco Colapinto picked up the paces where Pierre Gasly ended up flipping and dropping them thanks to Liam Lawson. So that was another good weekend overall. What a fantastic weekend for Colapinto. Best qualifying, best print race finish, best, or at least he tied his best race finish as well. For Alpine, Alpine continued to be the leaders of the midfield, even though, you know, Red Bull has probably moved on from there.

[00:17:32] And they're no longer in the midfield. They're in the top. Can you believe it, Kunal? Colapinto was the lead Alpine driver this weekend. He was the more prominent one. Yeah. And he had, of course, you know, 500,000 fans, Argentinian fans and Buenos Aires for his show run, you know, just a couple of weeks ago. So, you know, fan power getting him there. But while we, when we discuss, you know, Max, which happens overtakes, you mentioned Carlos Sainz.

[00:17:58] Carlos Sainz was pissed off saying, is he bullying us or whatever because he's battling the midfield? I thought Max was vintage Max. The way he came back in sprint with Lewis Hamilton with the spin and catching the spin, even the way he tried to catch Leclerc. And this is Max knowing he's got a car that's just about there. It's not there yet. And he's trying to use his skill to sort of cover that deficit. I loved every bit of Max Verstappen on track this weekend. It was amazing.

[00:18:24] It was absolutely amazing, especially seeing him be second in a car that's just not quite as fast in comparison to the Mercedes or the McLaren. And given all the circumstances, salute to Max Verstappen. That was an incredible qualifying. And on top of that, in spite of making an error, Verstappen was true to his form. That's the one thing I like the most, Canol. He didn't lose his color in spite of him racing for fifth or eighth or first or second. Verstappen still was as he was. As he was.

[00:18:54] As he always should be. And, you know, you did a salute to Max. After qualifying, Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli, and I believe even Lando Norris, they said the same thing. In Q3 in the first three races. I think two out of the three races he was out in Q3, right? And then guess what? He went from being, sorry, being out in Q1 in the first three races to then suddenly being on the front row. That's what's the power of upgrade. That's the power of giving Max a car he's comfortable in. Tivosi is here saying best Miami GP so far.

[00:19:24] I'll take your word for it. I pretty much don't remember the others. I remember Max versus McLaren's last year. But one thing that the chaos did, Samuel, and you picked on it, is it caused chaotic TV direction. I think it also caused a lot of chaotic race direction. Because there are so many incidents that are being investigated post-race. When you up the ante on the track and you make drivers battle each other, that's what you get in the stewards room and in the TV direction office. What did you catch?

[00:19:51] I just didn't like the TV direction overall in certain moments. I mean, I didn't like the fact that we were focusing on Oscar Piastri when George Russell was trying to pass Charles Leclerc. And then Max Verstappen was making a final corner move too. I think the focus was on Oscar a bit too much. And I was just watching the onboard in the small box and going, man, that's scary if the third place finisher is just doing his own thing at finishing. I want to see the battles. That's what I'm here for.

[00:20:16] And a very similar circumstance happened when we had Kimi Antonelli making his pass on Lando Norris as well. We were seeing Lewis Hamilton, I believe, making his pit stop. And at that moment, we couldn't quite see the setup to an overtake. And I say this as a mature motorsport fan. Let's just call it that. As someone who loves to watch all forms of motorsport and someone who appreciates the craft of the driver. And to me, it's not just the overtake. It's also how you set it up.

[00:20:43] And it's also what you did in the build-up, the small steering movements, the small judgments that the drivers are making, looking at the other drivers. And I just felt that in trying to capture everything, we must start on those beautiful things. Which as a mature and slightly old motorsport fan, you can call me, I just didn't get to see enough of that. And as someone who appreciates those nuances, I felt a little bit hungry for more. But that's also a good feeling to leave with, right, Kunal? That a Formula 1 race has left you hungry for more. Left you with hungry for more for action.

[00:21:13] Racing out on the action because of TV direction, I guess, right? Yeah. It's a tough job to do as well, being in the broadcast industry. It's a very tough and thankless job, honestly. And Samuel, at the end of the day, there are multiple areas of the track where there's action happening. I remember in the small box was Russell versus Verstappen. On the big box was whoever, I think, Leclerc following Oscar Piastri. Of course, TV direction is going to wonder where to go and they'll go with, you know, the position which is highest up on the order.

[00:21:40] But there were also times when I said, oh, yeah, Max Verstappen, sorry, George Russell has pitted. And then you realize, oh, he's actually finished the pit. Just that the TV director didn't show us the pit. But that's what you get when you have so much action. Like the Tifosi saying, they took so long to show Hachar and Gasly's crashed. They also took so long to show us the replay of the opening, the start lap itself. But that's just my summary. That race direction gets a lot of load. That's why the FIA has put a lot of incidents to be reviewed after the race.

[00:22:08] And Rishabh Thakkar is here saying Max Verstappen, George Russell had many penalty incidents today. But the FIA is just saying it's hard racing. I don't think a decision has been made yet, at least not based on the dashboards I have here. But you never know. Which ones, by the way? We'd love to know. Like which ones do you felt deserved a penalty? I think the Lawson one on the opening corner should not have been a position given back because Max also went off himself. That's the only one that comes to my mind.

[00:22:36] But yeah, if you think there's more, why not? Rishabh Thakkar sends us a comment, which is a really interesting one. Old Max is back. How? Rough driving. And this, we have discussed this since 2016 now, haven't we, Kunal? Max and his driving style. Let's just bring it up again. It's a very important thing to talk about. Max is more aggressive than anyone. But I can't also think of any other driver who is harder to pass.

[00:23:03] And I can't remember anyone who's also not broken the rules as they were. You mean bent the rules? He's like Matrix in the Neo in Matrix, you know. You need to know the rules so you bend them. It's not the spoon that's bending. It's just you, your imagination. And that's what Max does, you know. I mean, I don't think it's rough driving. I think it's on the limit, elbows out, hard driving. And that's what you'd want to see. Especially in a further than others. Yes. Especially in a rules era where, hey, I've run out of battery.

[00:23:32] So why don't you just drive past? And at least we didn't see Max do that. We saw him do that in the first three rounds where he said, okay, sorry, battery's gone. Drive past. At least that's what we didn't get. We saw him battling. There was this one battle with Leclerc where he kept his Macarena wing open for a fraction of a second longer than Charles Leclerc. So lots of strategies there. Which happy Raj Milk is here or happy Raji Milk saying what happened to Leclerc at the end? Leclerc just said he made a mistake. Went too early on the throttle. Lost it. Spun around. Hit the wall.

[00:24:01] Had a suspension problem. Lots of spins, by the way, Kunal. I love that. It reminded me. Yeah. Yeah. It reminded me of this second last generation of cars. The pre-ground effect ones. 2017 to 2021 generation where Sebastian Vettel used to spin a lot as well. And I used to wonder how that happened. And we're seeing similar spins. Two of them in the same race with Verstappen and Leclerc. Yeah.

[00:24:28] And in the end, I think the drivers, you know, Kimi Antonelli after the race, he was, you know, he was sweating like he had just walked out of the shower while he took a shower with his race suit on or something. But yeah, all in all, I think, you know, very exciting race. Before we move on, just one quick word, which you have to actually know. Do you know the secret ingredient behind Max Verstappen's resurgence? Since we're talking that the old Max Verstappen is back, it's not a sporting answer. You're not going to get it, but you're going to love it.

[00:24:54] The secret ingredient behind Max Verstappen's resurgence. Let me give you a hint. He's got a new simulator? No, no, no. You got to go completely left field. Completely left field. And I'm giving you a hint, Somal. Look at me. Look, look. Okay. A celebrity on the grid with a pit gun making some fun jokes out of him. DJ Khaled? Yes. DJ Khaled was asked, who are you here to support? And he said, I'm here to support Red Bull Racing. That's the secret ingredient.

[00:25:24] I've officially converted Kunal to being a DJ Khaled fan. I have no idea who he is, but I just know Soumil's stories with Khaled. You say this all the time, Kunal. You say this all the time, but you now really know who DJ Khaled is. Thanks to Max Verstappen and you. But Raj Milk is saying, Kimmy actually had MBS pour water on him. What is with MBS pouring water on drivers? What is with MBS going into that safe zone? Truthfully, nobody should be there because your driver's being weighed with equipment. What is with MBS? Why does he do that?

[00:25:53] Yes, it's the FIA F1 World Championship. You are the hero, especially when you make a statement like, we are going to go back to V8 by 2031. If not by 2030. I will not wait for manufacturers to agree with me. You can be that hero. Why be the villain by walking into the frame when the drivers are there? I just don't get it. I'm fine. If Ben Suleim is able to bring V8s, I'm fine if he slaps his face all over the racetrack as well. I'm fine.

[00:26:23] Just bring back the V8s now. Let's do that. Why? Why? Anyway, where are Ferrari this season? Another third world championship finish or will they revive? Very interesting. Mercedes is leading. Ferrari will chase them. McLaren is leading. Ferrari will chase them. Red Bull is leading. Ferrari will chase them. Ferrari are eternal world chasing champions. That's what it is. World chasing champions. Yeah.

[00:26:53] Even today, after Leclerc's incredible start, after being like Neo from Matrix and dodging all the bullets from left, right and center, he still ended up losing. And it still ended up going wrong. Ferrari was sixth and seventh. Ferrari was sixth and seventh at the end. Leclerc could have been on the podium at a point. He should have been on the podium. Wow. We did not discuss Leclerc's pit stop. Or did we? Or do we need to keep discussing it? I have no idea why Ferrari pit.

[00:27:19] Just the minute he pitted, again on the FanCode broadcast, we were like, I said, why did he have to pit? Because he's not run out of tires. He pit because George Russell undercut him or at least attempted to undercut him. Piastri was in the battle. He didn't respond. There was constant chatter. On the radio saying, rain is coming, rain is coming. And Leclerc pitted. A, he had complete trust in Ferrari. But B, the minute he pitted, he realized, I've been a fool again. My trust is going to miss you. And then the big question, when is rain coming?

[00:27:48] I almost expected Brian Bozzi to say, when the clouds decide that it'll come, the rain will come. Or he could have gone for a more technical Ferrari-like answer. Or like, when the clouds fill up with enough moisture, the rain will come. ETA 25. What the hell? So that pit stop ruined it for him. And I would say, I would say at the end of the day, the Miami Grand Prix had two blockbuster drivers that took themselves out of the race.

[00:28:16] Max Verstappen turned to spin. Bam. He just couldn't recover. That's why he had to try the hard tire gamble. And eventually he just ran out of tires. So Max just had the pace to compete is what he said, but didn't have position and tires. As with Leclerc, again, had the pace to fight and compete. Just got strategically knocked out of the battle, unfortunately. Yeah. But that meant... Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before anything, I've just seen this comment with the corner of my eye.

[00:28:45] The Tifosi of Fai, you naughty, naughty fellow. Who are you talking about when you say the Arsenal of Formula One? Because I... Are you talking about Ferrari? Are Ferrari the Arsenal of Formula One? That's a legendary comment, the Tifosi of Fai. That is a legendary comment. Why don't you give me some context? Because I just know Ferrari. I've heard of Arsenal. I know the business of Arsenal, but I have no idea. Competitive reference. I will show you this. It's a... What do you call this item in my hand, Kunal? A bottle of water.

[00:29:14] It's a bottle of water with Red Bull Ring written on it. It's a bottle. Yeah. There are some... There are some teams and there are some athletes who sometimes end up bottling. Bottling, yeah. A bottle can be a verb as well. Do you know the meaning of bottling? I think I get the context now. Yes. Arsenal are the chief bottling officers of the Premier League. He views. And so that's the reference to Ferrari. Okay. There was one more person who bottled it lap two of... Or turn two of opening lap Max Verstappen.

[00:29:43] And he cost Lewis Hamilton position. And Lewis Hamilton then had damage from that spin. So Max, of course, took a few people along with him. Yeah. Well, that cost Hamilton the entire race. Well, interestingly, Hamilton just didn't look as fast as Leclerc the whole weekend. He was in a good run of form the first few weekends. But I didn't see the best of him this time out, Kunal. Yeah. And he actually said he went Leclerc's direction after being in a different direction, you know, for the sprint. And he said, I should have just had that from the start of the race weekend.

[00:30:12] And he said it was a night and day difference. But well, so that's what happened. On a parting note, we should discuss Williams. They made the most of the break. They came with upgrades that brought performance. Also took away some weight. Double points finish. Alexander Albin scoring his first points. Carlos Sainz back in the points again, which is good for them. However, they could not beat the Alpine. And that's just where it is. Alpine is leading the midfield, I would say. Amazing turnaround from there. And what a weekend.

[00:30:40] And I'm so happy because Carlos Sainz is back in the points. It's so good to see the Williams do a mega opening lap by Alex Albon. And your favorite team, Aston Martin. Or my previous team, Aston Martin, finished a race with both the cars for the very first time. Fernando Alonso said the vibrations are gone. And now we should focus on performance. However, we are betting very heavily on the second half of the season. We will bring upgrades after the summer. So that's where it is. Yeah, they better.

[00:31:08] They better bring upgrades after the summer. And before we go, we should talk about where that leaves everyone on the point standings as well. Let's start with the Drivers World Championship. After four rounds, Kimi Antonelli leads with 100 points. George Russell is 20 points behind Kimi Antonelli. Second with 80. It's not Lando. It's not Oscar in third. It's actually Charles Leclerc with 63. Lando Norris is fourth with 51 points.

[00:31:33] So that puts him a total of, what, 12 points behind Charles Leclerc, which is doable for sure. Willis Hamilton is still in fifth in the World Championship standings. Oscar Piastri sixth. Max Verstappen is now up into seventh. With Oliver Bear in eighth, Pierre Gasly ninth. And Liam Lawson running off the top ten with 10 points. And the team's championship, on the other hand, Kunal. Mercedes are up by a huge margin.

[00:31:57] Even though McLaren are competing now properly on track, they are still upwards of 90 points behind. Ferrari are second still with 112 points. Wow. I know that Cadillac is not last. It is Aston Martin that is last. And Kimi Radio at the end made me nervous. Says Happy Raji Milk saying something was wrong with the gearbox. Yes, he had very rough shift. But these are things that the team can often control via software or settings and so on. And that's eventually what happened, I would say, at the end.

[00:32:25] But Kimi Antonelli, first driver to win Miami from the front row. Norris, first podium as a world champion. Isn't that awesome? At least in the Grand Prix format. Max Verstappen fifth, his best result of 2026. Charles Leclerc sixth in the race, his worst result of 26. Colapinto eighth, ties his career best result. And Albon scored his first point of 2026. So lots of things that have happened in Miami. We could go on, but we need to call it a night.

[00:32:55] We should. We should. Incredible race to the Miami Grand Prix. We'll be back with more content on the Inside Line F1 podcast. Make sure you're subscribing to us on Instagram and YouTube. And of course, if you are a Twitter user or a user of X, as the world now likes to call it, make sure you're following along on Ad Kunal A. Shah. He's more active over there. I'm more active on Instagram. And I'm Soumil Arora. And you will subscribe to the Inside Line F1 podcast and ring the bell button so that whenever we go live next, you know that we're on.

[00:33:24] Next race is Canada, but more content should be coming on the way beforehand. See you, folks. Bye-bye.