It has been a very long time, hasn’t it? With the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races, F1 has had an enforced and sudden spring break after simply three rounds of the brand new regulation set. But right here we’re, again in Miami for a dash weekend, with some tweaks to the rules.
Without going into an excessive amount of element – and the brand new rules are so detailed that it beggars perception – there’ll, after all, be hope that the tweaks make for higher, extra wise racing in addition to bringing among the challengers near leaders Mercedes. Hard to say if that has occurred on the premise of 1 (albeit prolonged) follow session in Miami, however there have been some pretty promising indicators.
Charles Leclerc was quickest for Ferrari forward of Max Verstappen within the Red Bull, almost 0.3sec behind, adopted by Oscar Piastri, Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton after which the lead Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli. George Russell, who’s hoping to overturn the Italian’s championship benefit this weekend, was sixth, solely marginally behind his team-mate.
I’m not positive the extra half-hour in FP1 seems like sufficient time for the groups earlier than dash qualifying, however who cares? It’s as much as them and the drivers to get on with it. Plenty of upgrades right here in addition to the regulation amendments, so let’s see if they’ve made a distinction.
SQ1 begins at 9.30pm and the entire session needs to be completed in about an hour, so let’s get again on with it, lets?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/formula-1/2026/05/01/miami-grand-prix-2026-sprint-qualifying-live-latest/