They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I suppose it must be true, because I was actually looking forward to the Miami Grand Prix this year.
With the track layout being one of the least exciting and the setting being a literal car park, it may well be my least favourite race on the calendar, but after a month-long break that saw the divisive regulations tweaked and a number of teams prepare significant updates to their cars, I couldn't wait for the action to begin.
And on the whole, it lived up to expectations. The regulation changes made the racing feel less artificial, reducing the importance of energy management, and upgrades gave us a four-way fight at the front of the field for much of the weekend.
These are my main takeaways from it.
Antonelli has Russell on the ropes
The big headline as Formula 1 left Florida was that Kimi Antonelli had secured a third pole position in a row, a third win in a row and a 20-point lead at the top of the World Championship. Most would have struggled to believe you if you told them that was how things were going to unfold after the opening round of the season, none more so than George Russell.
2026 was supposed to be the year of Russell. The year that he proved to everyone else what he's always been so certain of: that he's right up there with Max Verstappen as the best Formula 1 has to offer. However, just four races in, he's being completely overshadowed by the teenager on the other side of the garage.
Luck wasn't on his side in China and Japan, but Antonelli beat him in Miami entirely on merit, and by a big margin. While the Italian topped both qualifying and the race, the Brit failed to finish inside the top three in either, and had no misfortune to point to. He simply wasn't quick enough.
He largely brushed off his poor performance, putting it down to the fact that the Miami circuit is one that he's always struggled with, but he beat Antonelli in both the sprint race and main race last season, so it's hard to deny that the gap between himself and his teammate has gotten a lot smaller.
The 28-year-old still has plenty of time to restore order as Lando Norris did when in a similar situation with Oscar Piastri last season, but seeing off a younger teammate free from the weight of expectations is a challenge he hasn't faced before and wouldn't have expected to face this season.
His quest to become a world champion this year is already proving more difficult than he would have hoped.
McLaren master upgrades again
Russell's quest will be made even harder by the fact that McLaren look to be doing just what they did to become the best team on the grid: nailing their in-season development.
The reigning champions were second bottom in the standings after three rounds in 2023, but thanks to upgrades, ended the season with nine podiums to their name. They were comfortably slower than Red Bull and Ferrari at the start of 2024, but thanks to upgrades, ended the season as constructors' champions. Now, they look set to enjoy a similar rise in 2026.
They lacked both pace and reliability in the opening two rounds, with Piastri failing to start either and Norris finishing the only one he was able to take part in a long way behind the frontrunners in fifth, almost a minute off the winner. Less than two months later in Miami, they finished first and second in the sprint race, and second and third in the main race.
Their car even looked a lot stronger than it did in the third round in Japan, even though they weren't far off claiming victory there either having led for part of the race. There's little doubt that the upgrades they've put on their car in the last week have made it significantly better, so much so that it now looks to be quicker than the Ferrari.
They'll be introducing further updates at the next round in Montreal too, and if history is anything to go by, those might just bring Norris and Piastri into title contention.
Alpine becoming a hot commodity
Further down the field in Miami, Alpine made it even clearer than it already was that they're the strongest midfield team in 2026, at a time when they're subject to interest from some of the biggest names in Formula 1.
There's long been talk of another party buying a significant stake in the team from Renault, and both Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and former Red Bull boss Christian Horner are interested in doing so. After how the team fared in Miami, that interest will only have grown.
As always, Pierre Gasly got the most out of his car, but Franco Colapinto was able to as well, and the result of that was both drivers making it to the final round of qualifying for both the sprint race and the main race, both scoring points in the sprint and Colapinto picking up six on Sunday. They're therefore fifth in the standings, only seven points behind Red Bull.
They've been that high up in the past, but have always been held back by Renault's engine, which never proved fast enough or consistent enough to let them really challenge the frontrunners. However, that's no longer the case, with the French manufacturer withdrawing as an engine supplier and the team now getting the best power unit on the grid from Mercedes instead.
Add in the experience and resources they have at their disposal at their Enstone base - which has been in F1 since 1981 - and the fact that they'll be in a good place financially if they finish this season in the top five of the standings, and it becomes clear why Wolff would be interested in making them Mercedes' sister team and why Horner would want to take a leading role in the operation.
