Shaheen converts Miami pressure into breakthrough victory as Ezra’s pole charge unravels on lap one

Season 6 Main League · Round 7 of 10 · Miami International Autodrome · 9 May 2026 · 50% race

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Youssef Shaheen delivered Aston Martin’s first Feature-race win of the Season 6 campaign at the Miami International Autodrome, converting a front-row start into a controlled lights-to-flag performance after the opening exchanges removed any realistic prospect of a straight fight with polesitter Shaul Ezra.

From second on the grid, Shaheen was into the lead once the first-lap turbulence behind him had settled, and he was never headed. Behind him, Eden Azran brought McLaren home second — with Driver of the Day recognition — while Ezra limited the damage with third place after a pole lap that had marked him as the pre-race favourite.

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How the race was won

Shaheen’s trajectory through the last two Main rounds underlines why this result felt overdue rather than accidental: he followed a no-points weekend in China with second place at Suzuka and now a maximum 24-point haul in Florida. That is a run of form built on qualifying discipline and race rhythm, and Miami rewarded it with his first victory of the season and a climb to third in the standings on 96 points.

Once in clean air, Shaheen’s task was chiefly management — keeping the tyres under him and the gap stable to a chasing pack that had already lost its most potent weapon on lap one.

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The decisive opening moments

Ezra had taken pole position for Mercedes and arrived in Miami with five wins from six scoring rounds and a 32-point cushion over Azran — carrying both race-win and championship-closing momentum into Sunday. The classification tells the story of what happened next: Ezra slipped from first on the grid to third at the flag, while Mercedes team-mate Nitzan Alon — who had lined up third — crossed the line fourth.

According to paddock accounts from the league, contact between the two Mercedes drivers in the first-lap pack removed Ezra’s realistic shot at victory and, with it, the chance to wrap up the title in Miami. The timing sheet still records a Mercedes double result inside the top four, which is a respectable team outcome even if the opening seconds were not what the silver cars had scripted.

Idan Turjeman, starting fourth for Aston Martin, was caught in the same opening-lap congestion; the classified outcome is a fifth-place finish and fastest lap — a useful salvage of 12 points that keeps him fourth in the championship and underlines his capacity to stay in the fight when the race turns messy early.

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Azran keeps McLaren in the title picture

Azran’s rise from fifth on the grid to second was the day’s largest forward move among the podium finishers. It also extends a personal trend: after a sixth place in Australia, he has now taken back-to-back podiums (third in Japan, second here) and moves to 101 points, 29 behind Ezra with two scored Main races still to come on the calendar before the drop-race logic fully bites for everyone.

McLaren will leave Miami knowing its lead driver is still mathematically alive — and that Miami produced the extra narrative layer of Azran carrying the Driver of the Day award on a weekend where Shaheen took maximum points.

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Midfield quality and a notable return

Behind the headline trio, Alon’s fourth place was important personal damage limitation after a difficult run of participation earlier in the season, and it cemented Mercedes as the only team with both cars inside the top four on this result sheet.

Ariel Dorfman marked his first Main League start of Season 6 — and first appearance in the championship table since last season — with a composed sixth place from sixth on the grid. In a ten-car field with only nine classified finishers, that is a points-scoring return on debut and exactly the kind of benchmark a reserve expects to set when stepping back into a competitive midfield.

Dvir Badash was the afternoon’s other clear grid-to-finish story, improving from ninth to seventh for Haas, while Kelly Aiche took eighth for Ferrari after a three-stop race. Asaf Ben Lulu collected two points in ninth for Red Bull; Lior Cohen was the sole retirement, listed as a DNF from tenth on the grid.

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Stewarding and race conduct

The published results carry no steward penalties on the classification rows for the lead finishers. Separately, several drivers reported an unusually respectful, incident-light race once the opening-lap drama was behind them — a tone the league will welcome as the calendar tightens toward the closing rounds.

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Championship picture

Ezra leaves Miami still leading on 130 points. Azran remains his nearest challenger; Shaheen is now the closest threat in third but still 34 points adrift of the summit. With China scored at zero and the Main title decided on each driver’s best seven results from nine scoring rounds, the arithmetic is tightening: Ezra’s margin is healthy, but no longer at “one more cruise” levels if Azran continues this podium rhythm.

Pos	Driver	Pts	Gap
1	Shaul Ezra	130	—
2	Eden Azran	101	29
3	Youssef Shaheen	96	34

Next stop: Canada — where Ezra can still press toward an early coronation if the results fall his way, and where Azran must keep winning segments of weekends to delay it.

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