The 2026 Formula 1 calendar gets back on track this week with the Miami Grand Prix, an event many are calling the real beginning of a "new championship" after the sport endured a forced hiatus in April. For the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29, all of the teams will be back together on the circuit, gathering at the Miami International Autodrome on Friday.
The five‑week lull was not part of the original 24‑race programme; it arose because the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds, slated for mid‑April, were cancelled on safety grounds amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Miami now hosts the fourth race weekend of the year and the second Sprint weekend, but the month‑long break has given every outfit a valuable window to develop their brand‑new 2026 cars. Since Mercedes‑driven Kimi Antonelli seized the championship lead with a win at Suzuka, teams have been busy in their factories, tweaking aerodynamics, software and power‑unit settings.
As a result, the return to competition is expected to look noticeably different from the opening three events. Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur, whose squad has been the closest challenger to the dominant Mercedes, described the upcoming race as essentially a fresh start to the season. "Everyone will bring new upgrades to Miami," Vasseur told Sky Sports Italy after the Japanese Grand Prix. "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 already claimed three race victories and one Sprint win, but that the break offers a chance for rivals to close the gap.
"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 cancelled Middle Eastern rounds left a five‑week gap that, discounting the usual summer and winter shutdowns, is the longest in‑season pause since the opening two races of the 1999 season. Unlike the regulated factory shutdowns that occur during the August summer break and the off‑season, the teams were free to continue development behind closed doors throughout April. The $215 million (£159 million) budget cap and the aerodynamic testing restrictions remained in force, as did the ban on full in‑season track testing, although limited running was permitted on designated filming days and Pirelli test sessions.
That extra time has allowed engineers across the grid to refine the packages they had originally planned for the early part of the year. McLaren, for instance, has long viewed Miami as a showcase for a major aerodynamic upgrade – a strategy that paid off when they introduced a game‑changing package at their Woking factory in 2024. Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, explained that the revised calendar actually helped the team, giving them a more streamlined development window. "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.
We could keep up with this plan; the fact that the calendar has been changed sort of helped a little bit, like I’m sure helped all the other teams that could work more streamlined towards upgrading the car rather than being busy with racing. Across Miami and Canada we will see an entirely new MCL40," Stella said. The focus on Friday’s practice sessions will therefore centre on how the various upgrade packages translate into lap times and whether the hierarchy of the grid shifts dramatically.
Teams that struggled early, such as Aston Martin and Williams, will be hoping the break has allowed them to make larger performance gains relative to the frontrunners. At the same time, the pause gave every team a chance to digest the massive amount of data collected over the first three weekends, informing decisions about which aerodynamic concepts to prioritise for the rest of the year.
Drivers, too, have used the downtime to sharpen their fitness, spend extra hours in simulators and work closely with engineers to extract the maximum from their cars. Technical chiefs have been in ongoing discussions with the FIA about regulatory tweaks that are set to be introduced from Miami onward. The most notable changes affect the power‑unit’s energy deployment, aiming to make qualifying laps feel more natural and to reduce abrupt closing speeds during races. Because of those adjustments, the sole practice session on the Sprint weekend has been extended from 60 to 90 minutes, giving crews ample time to adapt to the new parameters.
Mercedes currently sit atop both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, having won three of the first three races. Their lead over second‑placed Ferrari is 45 points, while McLaren sit 89 points behind in third place, bolstered by a strong second‑place finish at Suzuka.
Red Bull trail far behind in sixth, with Haas and Alpine ahead of them. In the drivers’ standings, 19‑year‑old Kimi Antonelli leads with 72 points, followed by George Russell on 63 points, after Antonelli secured back‑to‑back victories – his first two career wins.
Charles Leclerc is third with 49 points, Lewis Hamilton fourth with 41, and Lando Norris fifth with 25. Oscar Piastri sits sixth on 21 points, while Max Verstappen is ninth with 12 points, reflecting Red Bull’s early‑season struggles. The weekend schedule is packed: Thursday will feature a drivers’ press conference at 7 pm, followed by a paddock show at 10 pm.
Friday includes an F2 practice, the Miami GP practice, F2 qualifying, a team‑bosses press conference and the Sprint qualifying. Saturday hosts the F2 sprint, the Sprint race itself, and the build‑up to the Grand Prix qualifying, while Sunday culminates with the F2 feature race, the Grand Prix, and post‑race analysis.
All sessions will be streamed live on Sky Sports F1, with the option to watch via NOW without a contract. In summary, the Miami Grand Prix marks not just the resumption of racing after an unprecedented mid‑season break, but also a potential turning point for the 2026 championship. With a month of unrestricted development behind them, every team arrives with fresh upgrades, revised software and a renewed strategic outlook. Whether Mercedes can maintain their early dominance, Ferrari can narrow the gap, or an underdog like McLaren can unleash a surprise package will become clear on the streets of Miami, where the new chapter of the season officially begins.