2026 - Race 4 (Miami)

[F1nKS]

After the long layoff, F1 moves to Miami. Will it be a restart to the season? What teams will bring upgrades with having extended time off? Will it make a difference?

Race 4, FIA has made some "refinements". They are calling them tweaks because the FIA director Nikolas Tombazis has insisted that the 2026 rules are "fundamentally a good package".

Meanwhile, an F1 driver has been implicated in an escort ring sting operation.

Mercedes seems to be adding a junior team with Alpine.

[F1nKS]

Sergio Perez on the 2026 Rules

"This Formula 1 is definitely very different, and the reality is that nobody understands it, not the engineers, not us drivers,"

"It's a fact that the cars aren't as fun as they used to be. There comes a point when you're going 80 or 90 kilometres per hour faster than the car in front and you don't know why."

Oscor Piastri said:

"I still need someone smarter than me to explain it to me."

but it may be the eye of the beholder. George Russel has counterpoint

"I definitely don't share that (criticism) at all. I'm personally really enjoying the car,"

[Matthew]

Good to have F1 back after the long break and it will be interesting to see if any team has made gains to challenge Mercedes who are dominating the constructors and drivers championships at the moment. Miami should be a solid test too, with decent overtaking spots and a more festival-style atmosphere.

There is also a lot going on for fans beyond the track this year, with multiple fan zones, live entertainment, team activations, simulators and events happening around the city with driver appearances and interactive experiences. This guide gives a solid overview of what’s planned.

Overall it is shaping up to be a strong mix of racing and off-track experience.

[Nitrodaze]

oopsy doo

[Nitrodaze]

HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!

Season reset or does the beat go on for Mercedes? So much talk of Aduo and loads of interesting spy videos and pics of the filming testing of the teams. And it seems we are going to be seeing heavily revised cars at Miami. Mercedes quietly plods away doing their thing while showing very little. All the excitement is at Ferrari, where a raft of updates seems to have transformed the SF26. No engine upgrade yet, so we can expect that it may still be slower than Mercedes. The most anticipated car is the McLaren. They made a half-second jump forward in Japan, with the unplanned break to their favour, we can expect them to be much closer to Mercedes at Miami. Miami seems to bring out the best in the McLaren cars for some reason. Hence, seems like a race that McLaren can win, realistically. But that depends largely on how much the Ferrari pair inserts themselves into the fight for the win.

This is a race where Russell would be seeking to put an end to the rut and secure a win. The same can be said for Norris, who would be hoping for a productive weekend.

Redbull seems to have completely redesigned their car. They even have their own Marcarena wing. Having the second fastest engine on the grid, Redbull is a team to watch this weekend.

Thankfully, we are set for an uninterrupted run of racing weekends to the end of the season; one hopes.

[Nitrodaze]

My early observations at the end of Qualifying are summarised as follows:-

1. Redbull is back at the sharp end of the grid.

2. The trend at Redbull of the old disparity between the drivers is returning, and it is not necessarily due to Verstappen's brilliance but due to development now being focused on Verstappen's preferences. But we can understand that as the pressure of his departure increases with every bad weekend, they have to find performance for him to ensure he stays at Redbull. Hadjah, like the early days of Perez has shown some strong races, but is now drifting backwards into the midfield, and the performance gap between him and Verstappen widens. And this bright talent is bound for the wayside as the season progresses.

3. McLaren's progress is real

4. Ferrari is trending back to their 2025 status of backwards drifting chasers. As always, they flash at the beginning of the season and progressively drift backwards.

5. George Russell is in trouble. His worst nightmare is coming to pass as rookie [Kimi Antonelli] is now consistently stealing the limelight with championship-winning speed.

6. Hamilton has made a mistake by not going with Grosjean as his race engineer. Once again, his car setup is at sea as his Engineer is unable to find a competitive setup for his Ferrari.

7. The rule change has killed the overtaking that made the early three races interesting. We thus go back to the procession racing of previous years. They have made it worse and very uninteresting.

8. The rule change has greatly nullified all of Ferrari's advantages. The star of the race now offers electric aid to cars with poor ICE powered get away from the line. Which is very unfair in my opinion. It has effectively pushed them backwards. It has helped Redbull greatly, but not so much Mercedes, which still has mediocre starts.

9. Strangely, the race pace at the sharp end of the grid is so close at this race. Mercedes seems to be within the clutches of the pursuing teams. They may be sandbagging because of the ADUO

10. Ferrari is lost once again. The LeClerc side of the garage seems happy, but the car do not manifest progress with the findings of that side of the garage. I doubt the ADUO would help Ferrari much. Their problem is deeply inherent in their racing culture. It would take a miracle for Ferrari to win any of the championships on the table.

Of course, how the main race turns out may change most of these observations. But I am not holding my breath on this.

[Matthew]

The cooldown room was pretty interesting, especially what Oscar had to say about defending.