REWIND: Atlassian Williams Racing at the Miami Grand Prix

Miami might only have joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2022 but the Floridian circuit has quickly become a key staging post in the season.

In its short history, the Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens has provided plenty of thrills, spills and points – and that’s just for Atlassian Williams Racing.

Here we remember our first four visits to South Florida…

The first ever Miami Grand Prix saw Alex Albon get among the points with a P9 while Nicholas Latifi came home in P14 – the team’s second best finish of the season.

A physical race in the Magic City was thrown wide open on Lap 41 when a collision between Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly brought out the Virtual Safety Car, which was upgraded to full Safety Car Conditions a lap later.

Having been passed by Sebastian Vettel on Lap 50, Alex benefitted when the German collided with Mick Schumacher to move into P10. It looked as though Albono would finish there but Fernando Alonso was handed a five-second post-race penalty for a track limits violation, pushing AA23 into P9.

“Today we found the pace that I knew we had all weekend,” Alex said. “We had a tough Qualifying yesterday which meant we were slightly out of position with a well-performing car, so overtaking was possible and we made good progress.

“We had a little bit of fortune with some of the cars ahead of us getting caught up in incidents, but the important thing is that we were in a position to make the most of those opportunities when they came.

“The team did a great job today, especially with the strategy, and so leaving Miami with more points is really special.”

The first of three races in the United States in 2023 ended in frustration for Alex and Florida native Logan Sargeant, finishing in P14 and P20 respectively in the Sunshine State.

Forced into an early pit for wing damage, Logan was cut adrift by the end of Lap 3. There was better news for Alex, who enjoyed a cleaner start to leave him in points contention.

Albono stopped on Lap 23 to change tyres and made a nice move on Lando Norris five laps later to climb as high as P12 at one stage. However, our No.23 ended up crossing the line in P14 after nearly hauling in Valtteri Bottas.

Speaking afterwards, Alex said: “It was quite a tricky race; we just didn’t have the pace today. I think we went into it thinking we were the ninth quickest car and today we probably were.

“We were managing the front and rear tyres but I didn’t really have grip, so I was sliding around.”

Fortune did not favour the brave in Miami in 2024 as Logan’s race was ended early after being hit by Kevin Magnussen on Lap 28. The Haas driver clipped Logan’s rear right tyre at Turn 2, sending him into the barrier at Turn 3.

During the ensuing Safety Car, Alex climbed into P13 but had the oldest tyre life in the field. Our Thai No.23 continued to battle but, as his tyres began to fade, it was clear the odds were stacked against him.

After locking up at Turn 11 late on, Alex slipped back to P19. Speaking afterwards, he said: "It’s probably one of the most challenging races I’ve had with the team, so we need to go away and understand why it was so difficult.

"It’s true, we didn’t have bad pace but the cars behind us were all on new tyres so I was the backstop for everyone else and you can’t really hold off cars on 20+ lap newer tyres than you."

After two testing visits to the Miami International Autodrome, we enjoyed our best return in the 305 in May 2025, with Alex coming home in P5 and Carlos Sainz in P9. In doing so, we reached 37 points for the season – more than double our entire 2024 tally!

Early morning rain turned the track green before giving way to dry conditions throughout the race, but there was drama from the off. In attempting to avoid the impact of near misses further ahead, Alex and Carlos made contact with one another.

Three separate Virtual Safety Car appearances followed with our No.55 hindered by Charles Leclerc’s pit en-route to a P9. Meanwhile, Albono was able to build a healthy lead over Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, coming home in P5 to complete a memorable weekend.

Team Principal James Vowles said, "It’s been a topsy turvy weekend, but I’m really pleased for the team with the result today. Given the setbacks we had yesterday morning, to come back fighting with both cars in the top ten in Qualifying, and to finish with both cars in the points is incredibly rewarding.

"It’s a long season and teams will bring updates so it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out over the next few races, but to score from five of the first six races is a different world to where we’ve been previously.

"I couldn’t be more proud of the team and the world class drivers we have. Alex and Carlos are really giving their all to this team and we are on a good pathway moving forwards."