The thunderstorms never came. The history did. Race officials at the Miami International Autodrome had moved the start of Sunday's Grand Prix nearly three hours earlier than scheduled, fearing a tropical downpour. Instead, the sky stayed open long enough for a 19-year-old Italian in a Mercedes to drive into the record books.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli started from pole and finished there, beating McLaren's Lando Norris by 3.264 seconds across 57 laps. His teammate Oscar Piastri completed the podium. It was Antonelli's third straight victory of the 2026 season, after wins in China and Japan. He achieved something no Formula 1 driver had ever done before: converting his first three career pole positions into race wins.
Eighteen months ago, Mercedes announced that this teenager from Bologna would replace seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Many people thought it was a risky decision. Hamilton had gone to Ferrari, and Antonelli had skipped Formula 3 entirely. Now he leads the Drivers' Championship by 20 points over his teammate George Russell and is the youngest driver ever to top the standings in Formula 1.
Mercedes has won every race of the 2026 season, a major turnaround for the team. The sport's technical changes this year have scrambled the competitive order, and the team based in Brackley has emerged as the early beneficiary.
Antonelli was born on 25 August 2006 in Bologna, in the Motor Valley. His father Marco runs a sportscar team. He signed with Mercedes' junior program at age 12. Every step of his career has been engineered with this moment in mind, and yet three wins from three poles had never happened to anyone before.