The 2026 Formula 1 campaign picks up again this week after an enforced hiatus, kicking off with the Miami Grand Prix – an event many are calling the true start of a "new championship". After a five‑week lull caused by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds, the grid reconvenes at the Miami International Autodrome on Friday, marking the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29 that all teams will be on track together. Miami now serves as the fourth race weekend of the year and the second Sprint‑format event. The extended break gave every team a full month to return to their factories and work on the still‑fresh 2026 cars.
Mercedes’ young driver Kimi Antonelli seized the lead in the Drivers' Championship with a win at Suzuka, so the return to racing is expected to feel different from a typical early‑season sprint. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, whose outfit has been the closest challenger to Mercedes in the races before the pause, described the situation as another fresh start to the season. "Everyone will bring new upgrades to Miami," Vasseur told Sky Sports Italy from Suzuka.
"They’ll have time to work on the software, which is why I said a new championship will start." Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff echoed that sentiment, noting that his Silver Arrows have claimed all three victories and the lone Sprint win so far, but that the break offers a chance for rivals to catch up. "Teams have learned, drivers are starting to learn how to optimise these systems to their benefit and we saw the 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 2026 calendar had called for a Bahrain race on 12 April, followed two weeks later by Saudi Arabia on 19 April. Both events were called off for safety reasons linked to the Middle‑East conflict, leaving a five‑week gap with no viable replacement venues. Apart from the usual summer and winter shutdowns, this was the longest in‑season pause since the opening two rounds of the 1999 season.
During the break, unlike the regulated factory closures in August and winter, the eleven teams were free to keep working behind closed doors. The $215 million (£159 million) budget cap and aerodynamic testing restrictions remained in force, as did the ban on full in‑season track testing, although limited running was permitted on filming days and Pirelli test sessions.
The extra time allowed designers and engineers to refine the packages they had already planned for early 2026, and many will emerge with more aggressive aerodynamic and power‑unit upgrades for Miami and the subsequent Canadian Grand Prix. McLaren, for instance, has long viewed Miami as a showcase for a major early‑season upgrade – a strategy that paid off when the Woking factory introduced a game‑changing package in 2024. Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, said last week that the team intended to bring a "completely new car" to the North‑American races. He added that the calendar reshuffle actually helped all teams focus on development rather than race logistics.
"Across Miami and Canada we will see an entirely new MCL40," Stella explained. "It will be a test of who has been able to add more performance within the same time frame, and we also have some performance to recover if we look at Mercedes and, to some extent, Ferrari as well." All eyes will be on the upgrade packages each team brings to the grid, how those changes translate into lap times, and whether the hierarchy of the championship shifts. Teams that struggled early – such as Aston Martin and Williams – may find the break advantageous, hoping to make larger relative gains.
Beyond hardware, the pause gave engineers a chance to digest the massive data set generated over the first three race weekends. That information will shape decisions on which aerodynamic elements to prioritize for the rest of the year and how to best manage the complex 2026 power‑unit and energy‑deployment systems during qualifying and race conditions. Drivers also benefited from the unexpected downtime. In addition to personal fitness work, they spent extensive hours in simulators, collaborating with engineers to fine‑tune their driving styles to the new car characteristics.
Technical chiefs have been in talks with the FIA and F1 officials about regulatory tweaks that are slated to be introduced from Miami onward, particularly changes to power‑unit energy deployment aimed at making qualifying laps more naturally flat‑out and reducing dramatic speed differentials during races. To accommodate the new parameters, the sole practice session on the Sprint weekend has been lengthened from 60 to 90 minutes, giving teams and drivers a better opportunity to adapt. Mercedes currently leads both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, having secured three wins from the opening three weekends.
Their lead over second‑placed Ferrari stands at 45 points, while McLaren sit 89 points back in third after a strong second place at Suzuka. Red Bull, Haas and Alpine occupy the lower midfield positions with modest point totals.
On the drivers' side, 19‑year‑old Kimi Antonelli surprisingly tops the standings with 72 points, ahead of fellow Mercedes driver George Russell (63 points). Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is third, 23 points behind Antonelli, with teammate Lewis Hamilton fourth. Lando Norris, the reigning champion, sits fifth with 25 points, followed by Oscar Piastri sixth (21 points) and Max Verstappen ninth (12 points) as Red Bull struggles to find pace under the new rules. The weekend schedule is packed: a press conference on Thursday evening, F2 practice and qualifying sessions, the Miami Sprint on Saturday, and the Grand Prix on Sunday, all broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 and available to stream via NOW.
In summary, the Miami Grand Prix marks more than a return to racing; it represents a reset point for the 2026 season. With a month of development work completed, new software updates, and regulatory adjustments ready to be applied, teams will showcase how quickly they can translate theory into performance. Whether the traditional front‑runners will maintain their dominance or a surprise challenger will emerge remains the central storyline as the "new championship" truly begins.