Formula 1 News of the Week – May 13, 2026
The Miami Grand Prix is in the books, and what a return to action it was. After a five-week break, the 2026 season resumed with a weekend full of drama, development, and significant shifts in the championship picture. From Mercedes extending their lead and McLaren showing signs of recovery to Red Bull’s long-awaited performance uptick and Alpine’s remarkable climb up the standings, there is plenty to unpack. With the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal just around the corner (May 22-24), the paddock is already looking ahead to another crucial weekend. Here is everything you need to know.
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📊 How the Teams’ Championship Standings Have Changed After Four Rounds
The Miami Grand Prix weekend brought further developments to the Teams’ Championship, with Kimi Antonelli scoring his third consecutive victory to extend Mercedes’ advantage. A look at how the order stands compared to the end of 2025 reveals just how much has changed in the first four rounds of the current campaign.
Mercedes topple McLaren as the new leaders
Perhaps the most obvious change is that a new name heads the standings. Mercedes have taken over at the top, moving up one step from their 2025 finishing position of second—but moving into P1 is arguably the most crucial step of all.
The Silver Arrows have racked up 180 points, having won all four rounds so far courtesy of George Russell’s triumph in Australia followed by three on the bounce for Antonelli, who has also become the sport’s youngest-ever leader in the Drivers’ Championship. This performance has given the squad a 70-point lead over closest challengers Ferrari.
Last year’s champions McLaren have dropped to third on 94 points. It was not the easiest start for the papaya outfit, marking quite a contrast from the dominance in 2025 that saw them wrap up their second consecutive Teams’ crown with six rounds to spare. However, signs of promise emerged in Japan and Miami, with Oscar Piastri in contention for the win at the former and Lando Norris battling for victory at the latter while also returning to the top step in Saturday’s Sprint.
Ferrari go up and Red Bull slip back
While McLaren have dropped two positions, Ferrari have gained two. The Scuderia slipped to fourth at the end of 2025—their lowest position since 2020—and were amongst those to switch their focus to preparing for 2026 at an early stage. That decision looks to have paid off, with Ferrari climbing to P2 following podium finishes across the opening three rounds.
However, the outfit faced what boss Fred Vasseur labelled as a “mega tough” Sunday in Miami, a day in which Charles Leclerc also dropped from sixth to eighth post-race due to a penalty. This suggests the Scuderia could have their work cut out holding onto that P2, especially given McLaren’s good showing.
Red Bull have dropped from third to fourth since the end of 2025. In perhaps an opposite case to Ferrari, the Milton Keynes-based squad continued to focus on last year’s campaign through to the end, with Verstappen remaining in the fight for the Drivers’ title. The start of 2026 proved challenging, leaving them down in P6 following Round 3 in Japan. However, significant upgrades in Miami appeared to reap rewards as Verstappen moved closer to the front of the pack, leaving him to suggest there was “light at the end of the tunnel” going forward.
Alpine the biggest climbers
The greatest leap in the early stages of 2026 has been achieved by Alpine, who ended 2025 at the bottom of the pack with just 22 points. Like Ferrari, Alpine prioritised 2026 preparations early, sacrificing the 2025 campaign in hopes of being much better placed for the sport’s new era.
The team have certainly found themselves in a much stronger position, climbing an impressive five positions to hold the ‘best of the rest’ slot in fifth. Their current total of 23 points is already more than their entire points score from 2025. Pierre Gasly has had a particularly eye-catching run, responsible for 16 of Alpine’s points tally, while Franco Colapinto claimed P7 in Miami to equal his best-ever finish in F1.
Haas make gains
Haas were tipped by many as ones to watch in the midfield battle, and the campaign has indeed started well for the American squad. They ended 2025 in eighth but now hold P6 in the standings—and were even placed as high as fourth after the Japanese Grand Prix. Given that the team continued to bring upgrades until the latter stages of last season, their performance this time around is all the more impressive.
Miami was not such a strong outing for Haas, marking the first weekend so far in which the squad have failed to score points. Similarly, Racing Bulls—another midfield outfit that had enjoyed a good start and now sit just behind Haas in P7—also faced their first point-less event of 2026.
Williams and Aston Martin both lose out
When it comes to those that have made the biggest losses, Williams and Aston Martin are the two main candidates. Williams’ 2025 season had been their strongest in some time, claiming an assured fifth place. But things got off to a challenging start in 2026 when they were forced to miss the Barcelona Shakedown, while their overweight car cost them time. With only five points so far, they have dropped to eighth.
Aston Martin have experienced multiple issues, including vibrations from their Honda engine and reliability problems. The team are yet to score a point and were not classified as finishing a race until Fernando Alonso’s P18 in Japan, meaning they sit 11th and last. However, with both Alonso and Lance Stroll seeing the chequered flag in Miami, the squad will hope to build on this improved reliability and start working on their pace.
In between, Audi hold P9—where the former Kick Sauber operation ended 2025—while Cadillac are keeping their expectations modest in P10 for their debut campaign.
🧡 Stella Admits McLaren ‘Definitely Want to Defend the Championship’
Following their best weekend of the season so far in Miami, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella has acknowledged that the squad “definitely want to defend the championship” while exercising caution about the long road ahead.
After a tricky start to the campaign—including both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failing to start the Chinese Grand Prix—McLaren hinted at more to come in Japan, where Piastri sealed their first podium of 2026 in second place. Their fortunes improved further in Miami, with Norris winning the Sprint at the wheel of the newly-upgraded MCL40 before both drivers shared the rostrum via P2 and P3 results in Sunday’s race.
However, Stella urged caution about reading too much into the Miami result. “I think if we now start to consider championships at the end of the season, then I think we need to be a bit careful because we are just at the fourth race,” he explained. “We have just delivered our first upgrade, we are in Miami and McLaren looks like they traditionally have done very well in Miami, so it could be that the way we develop our cars kind of suits this circuit, so we will have to see more.”
He added: “Because it’s only the fourth race and we have scored a good chunk of points even compared to Mercedes, we know that we can further develop our car. We have said already before Miami that the championship is not a sign-off, so our logic is to look at the long term, try and defend the championship… but definitely we want to defend the championship.”
Stella also praised championship leader Kimi Antonelli while suggesting McLaren have the strongest driver pairing on the grid. “I think we should really pay credit to the quality of the driving, the consistency, the speed in both a single lap in the race and overall execution,” he said.
“I would have said after testing that George Russell was in a stronger position, which was the case until Australia, but for some reason things seem to have turned around. Once again, I think this is thanks to the good work that Kimi must be doing with his engineers.”
On McLaren’s own pairing, Stella noted: “I think when we look in particular at the Constructors’ Championship, I think we are, from a driver’s point of view, probably the strongest pair. We want to capitalise on this strength that we have at McLaren, but we need to make the car a little bit faster.”
After the opening four rounds, McLaren sit third in the Teams’ Championship on 94 points, while Norris and Piastri are fourth and sixth in the Drivers’ standings with 51 and 43 points respectively.
🔴 Mekies Insists Red Bull Will ‘Happily’ Hire Talent from Elsewhere
Laurent Mekies has offered an insight into Red Bull’s recruitment policy in the wake of the news that Max Verstappen’s long-time race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, is to leave the team for McLaren no later than 2028.
Lambiase is the latest in a long list of experienced personnel to have left Red Bull in recent years. Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay have already left and joined McLaren, Jonathan Wheatley left for Audi, and Adrian Newey was perhaps the most high-profile loss, heading to Aston Martin.
But Mekies was keen to highlight that losing talent is not always a negative in the fast-paced world of F1. “In terms of replacing GP, we have a couple of years to think about it, but jokes aside, look, we are quite proud,” he explained.
“As much as I said many times, we don’t want to be defensive about the fact that we lost some talent, it’s a fact, and it’s been there for three or four years and as a result of that, it’s the highest priority in the team to make sure that we create the environment in order to retain, develop and attract the best talent in the pit lane.
“We feel we have the best talent already, department by department, and that starts with Ben Waterhouse on the power unit side and with Pierre Wache on the chassis side and his team. And under them, we feel we have the best talent, department by department.”
Mekies emphasized that promotion from within is the preferred approach. “When we can, we will always try to see how we can promote internally. We have created a number of talents over the last few years, and we are proud of that, we want to continue.”
However, he made clear that Red Bull is not afraid to look elsewhere if needed. “If and when we need to go and get a specific set of skills or experience from some of our dear competitors around the pit lane, we will do it. As we have done, you have seen last couple of weeks ago, we had a very good mix in our new structure, a very good mix of internal promotion with Ben Waterhouse having now an extended parameters and with Andrea Landi joining soon.
“We go and give the best chance to our talents and if we need to go elsewhere to inject, we will do it happily.”
Red Bull currently sit fourth in the Championship standings behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren after four rounds of the season. Their Miami upgrades appeared to work well, with Verstappen showing improved pace, and the team will be hoping that momentum continues into Montreal.
🏎️ Brown Responds to Talk of McLaren Making Future Move for Verstappen
With Red Bull’s Gianpiero Lambiase set to join McLaren in 2028, Zak Brown has addressed speculation over whether there is a possibility of Max Verstappen following in the future.
Lambiase has acted as Verstappen’s race engineer since the four-time World Champion’s promotion to Red Bull in 2016, and the pair have formed a close and successful partnership. Verstappen has voiced his support for Lambiase’s decision, stating that he is “very happy for him” as well as praising the chemistry they shared, something he feels is “very rare in racing.”
During an interview with Sky Sports F1 at the Miami Grand Prix, Brown was asked if Lambiase’s impending arrival at McLaren could open the door for Verstappen to follow down the line.
“I couldn’t be happier with our driver line-up,” Brown responded. “Lando and Oscar are not only two awesome guys, on the track, off the track, but as teammates, which is so much I think what’s made McLaren successful here—the chemistry that we have in the garage, at the factory, with our pit wall, all throughout the racing team.
“I couldn’t be happier with what we have, and zero intention in changing.”
Pushed on whether Verstappen would be at the top of the list should a vacancy ever arise, Brown answered: “He’s an awesome racing driver, so if a gap opened up that’s a different conversation, of course. When you see the talent that he has, yeah, and if you were looking for a racing driver, I think there are a lot of great racing drivers out there.”
Brown highlighted several other drivers performing well, including Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and the Mercedes pair. “I almost kind of feel like Kimi’s the championship favourite, sitting here at the moment, but we see how quickly things swing in this sport. But yeah, I’m happy with what I’ve got, so I hope I’m not looking for a driver.”
Both Norris and Piastri hold multi-year deals at McLaren, with Norris now into his eighth season racing for the papaya outfit while Piastri has been on board since his rookie campaign in 2023.
📈 Full Teams’ Championship Standings After Four Rounds
| Position | Team | Points (2026) | Change from 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 180 | ▲ +1 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 110 | ▲ +2 |
| 3 | McLaren | 94 | ▼ -2 |
| 4 | Red Bull | 59 | ▼ -1 |
| 5 | Alpine | 23 | ▲ +5 |
| 6 | Haas | 21 | ▲ +2 |
| 7 | Racing Bulls | 20 | ▼ -1 |
| 8 | Williams | 5 | ▼ -3 |
| 9 | Audi | 4 | — |
| 10 | Cadillac | 0 | N/A |
| 11 | Aston Martin | 0 | ▼ -3 |
Note: Audi took over from Kick Sauber, who finished 9th in 2025. Cadillac are a new entrant for 2026.
🔮 What’s Next: Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal
The action resumes almost immediately, with the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal taking place from May 22-24. This will be Round 5 of the 2026 season and the third consecutive North American race following Miami.
Several key storylines will carry over from Miami:
- Can Mercedes continue their perfect winning streak?
- Will McLaren’s upgraded car perform as strongly on the challenging Montreal circuit?
- Has Red Bull truly turned a corner with their Miami upgrades, or was that circuit-specific?
- Can Alpine maintain their remarkable rise and hold onto ‘best of the rest’ status?
- Will Aston Martin finally score their first points of 2026?
F2 will also be on the support bill in Montreal, marking the championship’s first-ever visit to Canada alongside their appearance in Miami.
📰 Sources:
- 🔗 How different do the Teams’ Championship standings look after the first four rounds? – Formula1.com
- 🔗 Stella admits McLaren ‘definitely want to defend the championship’ – Formula1.com
- 🔗 Mekies insists Red Bull will ‘happily’ hire talent from elsewhere – Formula1.com
- 🔗 Brown responds to talk of McLaren making future move for Verstappen – Formula1.com
