F1 Miami, NASCAR Texas, IMSA Monterey, WSBK Balaton Race Wrapups

After Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli won Sunday's F1 Miami Grand Prix over McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, he became the first-ever driver to win his first, second, and third GPs in a row, while also taking his first three pole positions consecutively.

To put that in perspective, only two drivers in F1 history won their first three grands prix: Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen. And only two drivers took their first three pole positions consecutively: Aryton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Pretty good company.

Saturday's sprint race marked the return of F1 racing after five weeks off due to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs.  The FIA instituted some much-needed regulation updates after less-than-satisfying shows in Australia and China to begin the season and the results were positive.

Norris, Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished on the podium Saturday morning in front of George Russell (Mercedes), Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Antonelli.  The changes made during the forced hiatus produced exactly what was desired —

drivers being able to go as fast as possible during qualifying, and then exciting action during the race that allowed for strategy options, overtakes, and drama right up until the checkered flag.

Sunday's race saw third-fastest qualifier Leclerc pass front-row starters Antonelli and Verstappen to take the lead out of turn one, with the Red Bull driver spinning 360 degrees after hitting a flat curb and dropping to 10th.  Two separate crashes (Isack Hadjar alone, broken suspension, and Liam Lawson, gearbox failure, who tagged and flipped Pierre Gasly) brought out the safety car on lap 7 and then the race was really on.

Lando Norris took the lead on the restart but Antonelli made perfect use of the undercut to take the lead after his pit stop on lap 26 of 57 and was never heeded. Oscar Piastri finished third ahead of Russell and Verstappen, who switched to hard tires during the early safety car period.  Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto were next after Charles Leclerc was penalized post-race for leaving the track multiple times on the last lap to cross the line 6th, but then classified 8th.  Williams drivers Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz filled out the top 10.

Next race:  Lenovo Grand Prix of Canada, May 22-24.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Laurin Heinrich drove the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche to a dramatic overall victory in Sunday's IMSA WeatherTech StubHub Monterey SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca.  On the last lap, Heinrich drew alongside Cadilla Whelen's Earl Bamber at Turn 3, completing the pass out of Turn 4 to take the win for top-level prototype racing’s sole true privateer team, running a year-old Porsche 963. Rounding out the GTP podium was the No. 25 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng and Marco Wittman with its first podium of the year in third

The GTD Pro class race came down to fuel mileage at the end, but by back timing its final stop perfectly, the No. 65 Ford Racing Mustang GT3 Evo of Frédéric Vervisch and Christopher Mies took the win, the first of the year for the factory Ford squad.  The No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R of Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg finished second, with the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R finishing third.

Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 45 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 of Danny Formal and Trent Hindman took the win in GTD, beating the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296.  The Lamborghini was the only car that could keep up with early leader Lorenzo Patrese but the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo did not finish due to an engine failure.

Next race:  Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, May 29-30.

NASCAR Cup Series

Hendrick Motorsports Chevy driver Chase Elliott won Sunday’s Würth 400 Presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway, thanks in part to a pit crew that performed its fastest three pit stops of the season.  Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Toyota) finished second ahead of Alex Bowman, 23XI' Tyler Reddick, and RFK Racing's Chris Buescher, the highest finishing Ford.

There were 23 lead changes and seven cautions, as leader-at-the-time Christopher Bell, defending race winner Joey Logano, and Bristol winner Ty Gibbs crashed due to contact to DNF, while early leader Corey Heim (31st) and Kyle Larson (34th) both lost control on their own to hit the wall and end their day. 

Next race: Go Bowling at the Glen, May 9-10.

World Superbike Championship

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) is dominating the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, setting a new record of 16 consecutive race wins. He has won every race to start the 2026 season, leading 206 of 216 laps on his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R. 

In the Saturday race at Balaton, he beat teammate Iker Lecuona and Miguel Oliveira (ROKIT BMW M 1000 RR), and on Sunday it was the same result except for Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) finishing third in another Ducati sweep.

Next race: Autodrom Most, Czech Republic, May 15-17.