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Formula One: Miami GP race updates as storms threaten disruption – live | Formula One 2026
Key events
Lap 5 of 57: And now Leclerc regains the lead. Hadjar’s terrible day continues as he crashes out. And then Norris joins Leclerc by passing Antonelli to grab second place. The safety car is out after Hadjar’s crash.
Lap 4 of 57: Antonelli challenges Leclerc for the lead but Leclerc holds off the championship leader … just about. Antonelli has another dart and Leclerc lets him through. Antonelli in the lead!
Lap 3 of 57: A good start for Alex Albon, who started the day in 15th but has leapt up to 10th. Hadjar, the only driver on hard tyres after starting in the pit, has zoomed to 16th .
Lap 2 of 57: Verstappen makes back a little ground, passing Lawson and is now up to eighth. Leclerc has a lead of a second over Antonelli in second. Russell is up to fourth.
Lights out!
Leclerc nips up the inside and grabs the lead! Verstappen spins as he jostles for position and is down in 10th! All sorts happening in a frantic start. Antonelli is second, Norris third, Piastri fourth and Hamilton fifth.
Every driver starting on the grid is on medium tyres today, the rain earlier means there’s not likely to be much grip on the track. And, of course, if it rains later …
Hadjar, starting in the pit lane, will start on hard tyres in the hope of making up ground on the field.
Max Verstappen, an excellent wet weather driver, is chatting to Apple TV as he makes his way to the grid. He predicts a “hectic race” in the unpredictable conditions.
This will be the first race this season with rain, and the first time we see how the new cars handle wet conditions. While we wait for the start of the race, a little reminder of the driver standings at the start of the day:
1 Kimi Antonelli (It) 75pts
2 George Russell (GB) 68
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) 55
4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) 43
5 Lando Norris (GB) 33
6 Oscar Piastri (Aus) 28
7 Oliver Bearman (GB) 17
8 Pierre Gasly (Fr) 16
9 Max Verstappen (Neth) 16
10 Liam Lawson (NZ) 10
Positive-ish weather update
The FIA says the rain is forecast to arrive 20 minutes after the start, but the worst weather should hit once the race is over. Meanwhile, the cars are arriving on the grid now.
Latest news is that the race should start in dry conditions, although the rain is more than likely to set in at some point during the grand prix. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm has turned up to get some advice from Carlos Sainz and Rafa Nadal on the LIV situation.
The rain is still holding off for now. Looks like F1 have linked up with some local teams, so little known Inter Miami veteran Lionel Messi can afford to get in! Great to see F1 giving back to the community.
The starting grid
1 Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
2 Max Verstappen, Red Bull
3 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
4 Lando Norris, McLaren
5 George Russell, Mercedes
6 Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
7 Oscar Piastri, McLaren
8 Franco Colapinto, Alpine
9 Pierre Gasly, Alpine
10 Nico Hulkenberg, Audi
11 Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
12 Oliver Bearman, Haas
13 Carlos Sainz, Williams
14 Esteban Ocon, Haas
15 Alex Albon, Williams
16 Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
17 Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
18 Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
19 Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac
20 Sergio Perez, Cadillac
21 Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi
22 Isack Hadjar, Red Bull (starts from pit lane)
A little update from AFP on the grid:
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar will start from the back of the grid in the Miami Grand Prix after he was disqualified on Sunday from qualifying for a technical infringement on his car.
Hadjar had posted the ninth quickest time in Saturday’s qualifying but the stewards announced that the Frenchman’s car failed its inspection. They said its floor was deemed non-compliant because its dimensions exceeded by two millimetres the reference volume defined by the 2026 regulations.
Red Bull accepted the decision and “admitted a breach of the technical regulations”, the stewards specified.
“We made a mistake and we respect the stewards’ decision,” said team principal, Laurent Mekies, in a statement.
“No advantage was sought or gained from this error. We will learn from this mistake and review our procedures to understand how it happened and ensure it does not happen again.”
Hadjar, 21, is therefore relegated to the back of the grid in 22nd spot.
Weather update
A reminder that the start time for this race was brought forward three hours to 1pm ET/6pm BST because of the threat of heavy storms. Outdoor sports events in Florida must be stopped if there’s a lightning strike within an eight-mile radius of the venue and can’t restart until there’s been no thunder of lighting for 30 minutes, which means we could be in for a little disruption this afternoon. There was heavy rain earlier this morning and it’s dry now, but the storms are forecast to return around 1pm … which also happens to be the start of the race.
Tom will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how qualifying went down:
Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the Miami Grand Prix with a strong lap, but only by narrowly beating a resurgent Max Verstappen and Red Bull into second place.
After the session had finished, the FIA, F1 and the Miami promoter issued a joint statement announcing the start of Sunday’s race had been brought forward from 4pm to 1pm local time – 6pm BST – because of heavy thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon.
On the track Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were in third and sixth for Ferrari, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in fourth and seventh for McLaren, while Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell could manage only fifth, four-10ths back from the Italian.
Antonelli, who leads the world championship by seven points from Russell, claimed his third straight pole, reasserting Mercedes’ pace at the front of the field that had looked to be genuinely under threat over the weekend in Miami. Not least when Norris and Piastri took a dominant one-two in the sprint race earlier on Saturday at the Hard Rock stadium.
You can read the full report below:
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
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