The 2026 Formula 1 calendar gets underway again this week after a forced pause in April, with the Miami Grand Prix being billed as the practical kick‑off of what many are calling a "new championship". For the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix on 29 March, all teams will be back on the circuit together on Friday at the Miami International Autodrome, following a five‑week hiatus that resulted from the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds originally slated in the 24‑race schedule. Miami now hosts the fourth race weekend of the year and the second Sprint event, but the month‑long break has given every outfit a rare window to develop their brand‑new 2026 cars in the secrecy of their own facilities.
That extra development time comes after Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli seized the championship lead with a win at Suzuka, meaning the return to racing is expected to look a little different from the opening three meetings. Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur, whose squad has been the closest challenger to the dominant Mercedes in the pre‑break races, said the weekend will feel like a fresh start to the season.
"Everyone will bring new upgrades to Miami," Vasseur told Sky Sports Italy at Suzuka. "They will have time to work on the software, which is why I said a new championship will start." Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff echoed the sentiment, noting that his Silver Arrows have already secured three race victories and a Sprint win, yet the upcoming weekend will be another chance to see how the new parts perform.
"Teams have learned, drivers are starting to learn how to optimise these systems to their benefit and we've seen that first indication in Japan that looked like a home run in the first two races but isn’t the case and we’ve always won," Wolff said. "Miami is going to be for me also a restart. How are the upgrades going to work that people are bringing? How have we optimised all the other systems?
It’s going to be exciting." The original plan had seen a race in Bahrain on 12 April, followed by Saudi Arabia a week later, but both events were scrapped on safety grounds because of the Middle‑East conflict. With no feasible alternatives and no other races scheduled for April, the calendar ended up with an unscheduled five‑week gap – the longest in‑season break since the opening two rounds of the 1999 season, if summer and winter shutdowns are excluded. Unlike those mandated shutdowns, the eleven teams were free to keep working behind closed doors throughout April, albeit under the constraints of the $215 million budget cap, aerodynamic testing limits, and a ban on full in‑season track testing (though limited filming and Pirelli test days were permitted).
That uninterrupted factory time allowed designers and engineers across the grid to refine the aerodynamic packages and power‑unit maps that were originally intended for the Middle‑East races. Some teams, notably McLaren, had always intended to debut a major upgrade package at Miami – the venue where their Woking base rolled out a game‑changing aero kit in 2024. Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, confirmed that the revised calendar actually helped them and other rivals focus on development rather than race‑weekend logistics.
"In our intent there was always the idea to deliver sort of a completely new car, especially from an aerodynamic upgrades point of view, for the North American races. The calendar change helped us and I’m sure helped all the other teams to work more streamlined towards upgrading the car rather than being busy with racing," Stella explained. He added that fans can expect an "entirely new MCL40" across Miami and the subsequent Canadian Grand Prix. Consequently, much of the pre‑race discussion will centre on the upgrade packages each team brings, how those translate into lap times, and whether the hierarchy shifts noticeably.
Teams that have struggled early – such as Aston Martin and Williams – will be hoping the break allowed them to close the performance gap, while front‑runners will be eager to see who can extract the most out of the extra development window. Beyond hardware, the five‑week pause gave crews ample time to digest the massive data set generated by the inaugural three race weekends of the complex 2026 specification. That data informs not only aerodynamic direction but also strategies for power‑unit deployment, tyre management and overall race‑weekend operation. Drivers, too, have used the unexpected free time to focus on fitness, simulator work and fine‑tuning their driving styles to the evolving car characteristics.
Technical directors have also been in talks with the FIA about regulatory tweaks that are set to be introduced from Miami onward. The primary focus of the new power‑unit rules is on energy deployment, aiming to make qualifying laps feel more naturally flat‑out and to reduce extreme closing speeds during races, thereby enhancing safety and competition. Because of these changes, the sole practice session on the Sprint weekend will be extended from the usual 60 minutes to 90 minutes, giving teams a broader window to adapt to the updated parameters. Heading into Miami, Mercedes still sit atop both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, having claimed three wins from the opening three events.
Their lead over second‑placed Ferrari stands at 45 points, while McLaren sit 89 points back in third, bolstered by a strong second‑place finish at Suzuka. Red Bull, Haas and Alpine occupy the lower midfield positions. On the drivers' ladder, 19‑year‑old Kimi Antonelli surprisingly leads the standings with 72 points, ahead of Mercedes favourite George Russell (63 points) after Antonelli's back‑to‑back victories.
Charles Leclerc is third for Ferrari, 23 points adrift of Antonelli, with Lewis Hamilton a further eight points back in fourth. Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen round out the top six, with Verstappen notably down in ninth after a challenging start for Red Bull. The weekend schedule is packed: a drivers' press conference on Thursday evening, followed by F2 practice and the Miami GP practice on Friday, then the Sprint qualifying, Sprint race and full Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday, and finally the main race on Sunday.
All sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, with streaming available via NOW. In summary, the Miami Grand Prix represents more than just the next race; it is the practical relaunch of the 2026 season under the new technical regulations. Teams have had a rare, unrestricted development period, drivers have refined their skills, and the championship narrative is poised for fresh twists.
Fans can expect a showcase of upgraded machinery, strategic ingenuity and perhaps a reshuffling of the pecking order as the new championship truly begins.