Lionel Messi made his presence felt at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, May 3, attending the event at the Miami International Autodrome alongside wife Antonella Roccuzzo and their three sons — Thiago, Matteo, and Ciro — just 24 hours after Inter Miami’s 4-3 defeat to Orlando City, a result that saw the club collapse from a commanding 3-0 advantage.
The family was photographed moving through the paddock’s hospitality areas dressed casually, with Messi wearing a black short-sleeve shirt over a white tee, black shorts, and sunglasses. The visit was widely circulated on social media after Formula 1’s official account shared footage of the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner at the circuit.
The centrepiece of Messi’s paddock tour was a visit to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team garage, where he met George Russell and 2026 Miami GP pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli ahead of the main race. The group exchanged handshakes and posed for photographs, with Russell’s girlfriend Carmen Mundt also present. The most widely shared moment of the visit came when Messi climbed into Antonelli’s Mercedes F1 car and sat in the cockpit, footage of which spread rapidly across social platforms.
Messi also crossed paths with Alpine driver Franco Colapinto, the 22-year-old Argentine who has emerged as one of motorsport’s most prominent young figures in his home country. Colapinto attended the Miami GP alongside his girlfriend, actress Maia Reficco, whose relationship with the driver had recently become public. The meeting marked their first encounter with the Messi family at a race weekend, adding a notable Argentine dimension to the paddock atmosphere.
The reunion carried additional context: earlier in the week, according to reports, Colapinto and Argentina international Rodrigo De Paul had visited Messi privately at Inter Miami’s training ground. Colapinto has spoken openly about his admiration for the footballer on previous occasions. When reflecting on an earlier meeting with Messi — during which he gifted the forward a signed helmet — the Alpine driver said: “If you ask any Argentinian who they want to meet, it’s Leo… It was something I had dreamt of all my life.”
Messi’s appearance at the Miami GP reflects the broader cultural intersection between football and Formula 1 that has grown significantly in recent years, particularly in the United States where both sports are expanding their audiences. Inter Miami, the MLS club co-owned by David Beckham, plays its home matches at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, placing Messi in one of North America’s most active sports markets. The Miami International Autodrome, located within Hard Rock Stadium, has hosted the Miami Grand Prix since 2022 and has become a fixture on the F1 calendar that regularly attracts high-profile celebrity attendance.
On the sporting side, the 4-3 defeat to Orlando City represented a significant setback for Inter Miami, who had appeared to be in complete control of the match before the collapse. The result will draw scrutiny ahead of upcoming MLS fixtures as the club looks to recover form.
