Grand Prix thread CRYPTO.COM MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2026

[ched999uk]

57 laps of the 5.412km Miami International Autodrome

1st May Practice 1 17:00 - 18:30
1st May Sprint Qualifying 21:30 - 22:14
2nd May Sprint 17:00 - 18:00
2nd May Qualifying 21:00 - 22:00
3rd May Race 18:00 - 20:00 - NEW start time due to weather forecast!

All times are UK times
Poll closes before Race Quali.

 

[Sportista]

It feels like it’s been nearly as long as the off season, although once you exclude Christmas, I guess it’s not that far off.

All the teams should have upgrades, so will be interesting to see if the order changes. I’m particularly interested to see if McLaren (recently very effective at upgrading their car) can get on terms with Merc and if RedBull can break out of the midfield.

 

[ched999uk]

It feels like it’s been nearly as long as the off season, although once you exclude Christmas, I guess it’s not that far off.

All the teams should have upgrades, so will be interesting to see if the order changes. I’m particularly interested to see if McLaren (recently very effective at upgrading their car) can get on terms with Merc and if RedBull can break out of the midfield.

Think I read somewhere that McL have big changes coming for this race.
I think it's going to be an interesting weekend, with only 90 mins of practice they are all going to be in the same boat - trying to test new stuff out and optimise it for the track and set the car up all within the 90 mins!

I also recently read that Williams actually failed 4 chassis crash tests, they are working on a new chassis design for this season, plus a reduction in weight target of 28kg that they are currently carrying above min! It was said that they had done all the 'paperwork' to eliminate the excess weight but due to the cost cap they can only introduce new spec components when the old ones had reached their allocated lifespan.

I think it will be interesting.

 

[Big Ern]

It feels like it’s been nearly as long as the off season, although once you exclude Christmas, I guess it’s not that far off.

All the teams should have upgrades, so will be interesting to see if the order changes. I’m particularly interested to see if McLaren (recently very effective at upgrading their car) can get on terms with Merc and if RedBull can break out of the midfield.

Tbh I find I'm more interested what improvements have been made at the other end of the grid.
In other news I went for Hamilton, even though I think Russell will win the race.

 

[Sportista]

Tbh I find I'm more interested what improvements have been made at the other end of the grid.
In other news I went for Hamilton, even though I think Russell will win the race.

Fair, I did filter my original thoughts. If you want the full version:

McLaren - if a Merc engine is a silver bullet this year, then they are the only ones who can challenge for the titles.
Red Bull - having focused on 2025 far longer than anyone else there’s good reasons for their car to be undercooked, but if they don’t start making progress back towards the front then maybe the recent “brain drain” is a key factor that will take much longer to resolve.
Williams/Aston - probably even bigger under achievers than RedBull so also interesting, but it’s clear from both that their timelines are longer than this weekend.
Cadillac - they’ve started much faster than I think most suspected. Now they have to develop their car, whilst racing at the same time, will they catch the pack, develop at the same rate or get out developed and slip backwards relative to the midfield.

 

[Number 1 Jasper]

I also recently read that Williams actually failed 4 chassis crash tests, they are working on a new chassis design for this season, plus a reduction in weight target of 28kg that they are currently carrying above min! It was said that they had done all the 'paperwork' to eliminate the excess weight but due to the cost cap they can only introduce new spec components when the old ones had reached their allocated lifespan.

Vowles can go f**k himself .

 

[Big Ern]

The cars look pretty twitchy, which is good afaic.

 

[notDistantGreen]

God I hate these temporary circuits.

But when will they learn that more and more close-up camera work means you can’t build a picture of the track in your mind.

Just because you can use 400 cameras doesn’t mean you should.

 

[Sportista]

It was hard to tell if the rules tweaks made much different because the TV direction was very choppy and I get this is a harvest rich circuit so it’s not the best test of the rule changes. It was nice to see Merc face some competition, but also it feels like driver performance made a bit of a difference today. A step in the right direction hopefully.

 

[push]

God I hate these temporary circuits.

But when will they learn that more and more close-up camera work means you can’t build a picture of the track in your mind.

Just because you can use 400 cameras doesn’t mean you should.

You get a close up of the car,you get an excellent view of the advert on the side.
Money talks, it`s all about the $$$$$

 

[Big Ern]

No podium for Mercedes in the sprint, that's a bit of a surprise, great upgrades from McLaren, decent ones from Ferrari and RBR. Both Aston's finished, but it was only a sprint, so...

 

[Sportista]

No podium for Mercedes in the sprint, that's a bit of a surprise, great upgrades from McLaren, decent ones from Ferrari and RBR. Both Aston's finished, but it was only a sprint, so...

It was notable that Merc’s apparent race pace advantage from practice disappeared, hopefully they don’t just take a similar step when their upgrades come in Canada.

Does Hadjar not have all the upgrades? Verstappen has leapt into the lead fight, but Hadjar’s still scrapping with the Alpines?

 

[push]

BREAKING NEWS The Miami Grand Prix will start three hours earlier than originally scheduled, it has been confirmed.

With a threat of rain and thunderstorms in the Miami area for Sunday, talk soon bubbled up over whether the Miami Grand Prix would require rescheduling.

That means 6.00pm start in UK .

That`s going to be 3.00 am for me here in OZ. ouch !



0:19/1:07

 

[Number 1 Jasper]

BREAKING NEWS The Miami Grand Prix will start three hours earlier than originally scheduled, it has been confirmed.

With a threat of rain and thunderstorms in the Miami area for Sunday, talk soon bubbled up over whether the Miami Grand Prix would require rescheduling.

That means 6.00pm start in UK .

That`s going to be 3.00 am for me here in OZ. ouch !



0:19/1:07

Was just going to post this , thanks

 

[push]

Was just going to post this , thanks

I think 6.00am start for me in New South Wales was just about alright ,I could have managed that. But,300am, It`ll have to be on record.

 

[Number 1 Jasper]

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[Number 1 Jasper]

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[push]

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The FIA are now so wary of these new regs, even they know that they are flawred and dangerous and were wrong to move away from traditional F1 racing.

 

[Number 1 Jasper]

The FIA are now so wary of these new regs, even they know that they are flawred and dangerous and were wrong to move away from traditional F1 racing.

I take your point , but imho , in this particular instance , it’s the local laws that are the problem for the FIA etc .

If there were no laws , I think they wouldn’t bring the start forwards as much as, it’s all about the money sadly.

Remember Belgium a few years ago ?
Tipping down with rain and they got 2 laps in so they could call it a race and not have to pay out ?

 

[Sportista]

The FIA are now so wary of these new regs, even they know that they are flawred and dangerous and were wrong to move away from traditional F1 racing.

I think this is probably -in general - the wrong stick to beat these regs with. Slick tyres aren’t inherently flawed or dangerous, but they aren’t suited to wet conditions, hence we have inters and wets. I do get that if the drivers had a bit more control of the electrical power application, that peak power could be left up to their right foot.