Who needs rain? The Miami Grand Prix proved entertaining enough without the interference of the weather as Formula 1 returned from its enforced April break.

And the events that unfolded on Sunday really did offer and embarrassment of riches when it came to choosing our winners and losers form this year's race. Here's where we ended up:

Loser: Charles Leclerc (8th)

A good Ferrari race start seems to be an established given at this stage of F1 2026, so by extension there was no guarantee Leclerc was going to stay up at the very front over the remainder of the grand prix.

But who saw this kind of fall coming?

Yes, the sum of parts makes this particular eighth place look worse than it was: the relatively early stop that Leclerc questioned; the spin that he took full accountability for; and of course the 20-second penalty post-race for his resulting corner-cutting while dragging his hobbled Ferrari to the finish.

Without the first of those factors, maybe you don't get the second one, and then you certainly don't get the third.

Yet for all the lack of likelihood that events would unfold that way, it does feel like a very Ferrari series of events to have occurred. - Jack Cozens

Winner: McLaren (2nd & 3rd)

"F***'s sake, how did we not win this?" lamented Lando Norris after finishing second in a Miami GP that he led for 15 laps.

There is, no doubt, a case to be made that McLaren should've won here for a third year in a row. A little more precision - post race, team principal Andrea Stella referred multiple times to execution, optimisation and adaptation - might have made the difference, even if both Stella and Norris were probably right in asserting that the Mercedes was still the faster car.

Still, McLaren was the top scorer across the Miami weekend, and has step two of its upgrade still to come in Montreal next time out as well.

Miami has traditionally been a favourable circuit for McLaren, yes, but there's evidence to suggest it's now second-best ahead of Ferrari - and there a subtle confidence from its key figures about what more is possible from this starting point. - JC

Loser: George Russell (4th)

This was an admittedly disappointing weekend for Russell, who never managed to get the best out of a car that was evidently capable of winning the race.

Russell admitted that "the pace was really, really poor on my side" and that he'd begun testing different brake settings and his overall driving style in the final 20 laps to see what he could do to extract the maximum out of the car. Although he said he'd found something, by that point it was just too little too late to make any real difference.

In fact, fourth place at the flag arguably flatters Russell. He's fortunate that Leclerc had his moment on the final lap and allowed him to make up one more place.

Russell said his lack of form in Miami was "no cause for concern", but there must be some alarm bells ringing after looking comprehensively beaten on a weekend where team-mate Kimi Antonelli further extended his advantage in the championship. - Eden Hannigan

Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st)

Another grand prix, another Mercedes victory - but this might be the most convincing one of the lot from Antonelli.

Convincing because for much of the race this result hung in the balance. The W17 probably was still the fastest package on balance in Miami, but it faced its sternest challenge of 2026 yet from McLaren - and only one driver was there to maintain the winning record.

The pivotal moment was around the pitstop phase, and even if it required a bit of an assist from McLaren (that aforementioned execution) for Antonelli to be in range he still had to pounce and pass Lando Norris; who knew whether he'd get another chance?

That pass was incisive, as was his subsequent one on Max Verstappen to break any real tow back to Norris.

The longer this level of performance goes on from Antonelli, the less it looks like simply a consequence of having the best package at his disposal. - JC

Winner: Franco Colapinto (7th)

A tied-best F1 finish for Colapinto on the road - which then became a best result after Leclerc's penalty promoted him - followed a strong showing over the rest of the weekend and probably his most assured weekend as an Alpine driver.

The lap-one clash with Lewis Hamilton was a bit scruffy, but apart from that he was basically eighth or a net eighth for the entire race.

It's a shame Pierre Gasly's weekend wasn't the cleanest, for the purposes of getting a comparative read on Colapinto's performance. But that wasn't in Colapinto's control and he didn't make any significant errors to jeopardise Alpine's newfound pace, as it looks more and more assured at the head of the midfield. - Jack Benyon

Loser: Max Verstappen (5th)

Despite being a loser, it could have been much worse for Verstappen. He only received a five-second penalty for being adjudged to have crossed the pit exit line by the stewards, which didn't change his finishing position.

How do you judge his race? Spinning to avoid Leclerc at the start was a mistake; his 360 to get it in the right direction was breathtaking; and his racecraft was questionable at times - somewhere between controversial and unacceptable on the scale, depending on how you view it.

But despite all of that, he did settle down and managed 51 laps on a set of hards, staying in the hunt on them for long enough that, with a bit of fortune thanks to Leclerc's off, he was able to turn what should have been sixth into fifth (and nearly fourth on the road).

It was in many ways the best and worst of Verstappen: the uncompromising racecraft with little regard for the opponent, plus his sheer determination and unrivalled skill all on full display. - JB

Loser: Isack Hadjar (DNF)

Hadjar was visibly annoyed at himself for crashing out of the Miami GP, clouting the wall just as he was making progress through the field from his pitlane start.

Some will see a familiar narrative: that when Red Bull has upgrades it naturally gravitates towards Verstappen's edgy driving style and whoever his team-mate is falls further behind as they are unable to replicate that style.

There was a hint at that in Hadjar's earlier weekend comments that the Red Bull was "very hard to drive but was very fast".

But if there was going to be any sympathy for Hadjar, it probably didn't help that he called the chassis terrible earlier in the year and then crashed on a weekend when the car was much quicker than it has been before - after all of that work by said team to transform it.

A big improvement in all areas needed for Montreal. - JB

Winner: Williams (9th & 10th)

A double-points finish would have been beyond Williams's expectations given just how unsatisfied both its drivers were after the opening three races. However, its new upgrade package allowed for that exact scenario to unfold in Miami.

In fact, it wasn't necessarily a 'new' package that made the difference. Carlos Sainz shared that Williams "finally put on the upgrade of the car that was supposed to come to race one", which finally seemed to hoist it properly into the midfield.

It seems the key was staying out of trouble after the early chaos unfolded, according to Alex Albon, who reckoned he "must have made up six or seven positions" by avoiding the path of the spinning Verstappen at the start.

Although the race pace still isn't quite what he, nor Sainz, desires - that showed in the 20-second gap to Alpine's Franco Colapinto - it is still a massive improvement from the start of the season that is bound to inject a new lease of life into two drivers who'd cut frustrated figures after the first three rounds.

Sainz put it best: "Getting two cars in the points and on merit is definitely a good step, but we need to keep pushing on."

If this weekend is to go by, he can count on Williams to do just that. - EH