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How important is qualifying right away?
Exciting: If you take all previous Formula 1 races in Miami together, i.e. sprint and Grand Prix, then in six attempts there was only one win from pole position.
Max Verstappen achieved this in the 2024 sprint. Otherwise, the Miami winner never even started from the front row. Verstappen won the 2022 premiere from P3 and a year later even from P9.
In 2024, Lando Norris won from fifth place, and last year Norris first won the sprint from P3, before teammate Oscar Piastri was successful from P4 a day later.
Statistically, you should actually try not to start from pole right away …
Read more FIA takes action: Overtake boost in rain banned from Miami onwards
Longruns: Ferrari reduces gap
Normally, representative longruns on a sprint weekend are rather rare, but since today’s practice was extended to 90 minutes, there was extensive data this time – also with a lot of fuel in the tank.
The best longruns were completed by the two Mercedes drivers, unsurprisingly. Adjusting the data for different stint lengths and tire compounds, championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli was on average the fastest driver.
Although the basic order seems to have changed little, the chasing teams may have closed in on Mercedes. More on this in the analysis by my colleague Kevin Hermann.
Formula 2: Alpine substitute driver on pole
While the press conference was running in Miami, Formula 2 was racing on the track. There, Alpine substitute driver Kush Maini secured pole position. Pleasing from a German perspective: Oliver Goethe made it to P8. Thus, he will start the sprint race tomorrow from P3.
End of day
That concludes today’s press conference. Other topics included the influence of drivers on the new rules or the ADUO system. In an hour and a half, the sprint qualifying will continue on the track.
Williams problems
Vowles also speaks a bit longer about the problems in winter during the press conference. He explains that Williams focused very early on 2026 – but only in the wind tunnel. The actual car construction started late.
And that’s where the problems occurred. And because the schedule in winter was so tight, they couldn’t catch up in the end.
Speaking of rear wings …
Red Bull also has a new wing this weekend. You can watch it in action here:
Vasseur: “Macarena wing” stays on the car
So far, Ferrari has only tested the “Macarena rear wing” this year. That will change here in Miami. Vasseur just confirmed that they will use it for the entire weekend for the first time.
Williams wants to return to midfield front
They are currently far from that, but Vowles explains that the goal is to bring the car back into the position at the top of the midfield through development this year. That should be achieved by summer.
After that, the focus will be on building a strong car for 2027 based on this.
Read more Crisis at Red Bull: Max Verstappen questions his future
Praise for new rules
The first question in the press conference is about the new rules starting this weekend. All three team principals praise the FIA and the adjustments. Anything else would have surprised us.
Binotto also emphasizes that the changes in Miami probably won’t play a big role. They will have a greater impact on other tracks.
Team principal press conference
In ten minutes, the mandatory press conference of the team principals begins in Miami. The following participants are present today:
Mattia Binotto (Audi)
Frederic Vasseur (Ferrari)
James Vowles (Williams)
If there are exciting statements, we will of course provide them here in the ticker as usual.
Red Bull: Do the updates work?
“In this session, we only dealt with ourselves,” emphasizes team principal Laurent Mekies at Sky after Max Verstappen’s P2. He explains: “After the long break and considering all the big changes to the car, it was important to assess ourselves. That was the main goal.”
They will look at the gap to the competition later, “but at least with Max there are signs that we have something with which he can push a bit more,” says Mekies cautiously optimistic.
That was exactly the goal of the Miami update.
Button: Ferrari at an advantage
Expert Jenson Button is surprised by Mercedes’ problems in FT1 at Sky. “For George, it was a really tricky matter, a strange practice. He complained about a noise in the turbo, and then his pace just wasn’t there,” says the 2009 world champion.
“Kimi also fell behind after having problems at the end and couldn’t run with either the medium or soft tires before qualifying,” adds Button. Antonelli had a problem with the drivetrain at the end.
“So it’s not exactly easy for the Mercedes team. I think Ferrari and Charles Leclerc have the advantage,” says Button after the Monegasque’s best time.
FT1 overview
Report
Result
Photos: F1: Miami Grand Prix (USA) 2026
Open session ticker now!
In ten minutes, the first and only practice in Miami begins. We are moving the action to our session ticker for now. So there is a short break here, after the end of practice it will continue here as usual.
And if you want to know how to watch Formula 1 live during the Miami weekend, you can find out here!
Leclerc: Miami update still too little
Speaking of Ferrari: We already talked about the fact that the Scuderia reported a whopping eleven changes to the car to the FIA for this weekend. According to Charles Leclerc, however, they will not be able to completely close the gap to Mercedes with this.
“I think they were simply too far ahead of us for us to beat them with just what we bring here,” he emphasizes and explains: “I doubt that the order we have observed since the beginning of the year will change significantly because of this.”
He explains that some gaps between the teams may become “bigger or smaller.” Basically, however, he does not expect a completely different pecking order to suddenly emerge in Miami.
The last world championship leaders
After the 2022 Miami Grand Prix, a Ferrari driver led the Formula 1 World Championship for the last time. That was four years ago now. More on this in this photo series:
Read more Trickling instead of flooding: Paddock Club in Miami grows
Photo series: The last 25 world championship leaders in Formula 1
