{"id":637898,"date":"2026-04-29T06:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637898\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T06:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:44:11","slug":"f1-news-2026-miami-grand-prix-team-upgrades-and-packages-martin-brundle-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637898\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News 2026: Miami Grand Prix team upgrades and packages, Martin Brundle comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami’s opening practice session is shaping up to be the one of the most pivotal hours of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

After five weeks off, Formula 1<\/a> teams are returning to the track with what many are calling “completely new” packages.<\/p>\n

During this impromptu April break, factories were buzzing as all 11 outfits were free to work uninterrupted on their 2026 challengers, tweaking designs and fast-tracking upgrades specifically for the first North American swing of the year.<\/p>\n

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Miami has become a strategic milestone on the F1 calendar. It is the venue where teams traditionally debut their first major overhauls.<\/p>\n

Some teams, such as McLaren<\/a>, have a history of success here.<\/p>\n

Their game-changing 2024 upgrade in Miami set them on a trajectory that saw them finish the following season 14 points ahead of Red Bull<\/a> in the constructors championship.<\/p>\n

\"Pole<\/p>\n

Mercedes currently lead the championship but Miami could see a shakeup. \u00a0LAT Images<\/p>\n

Pundit Martin Brundle<\/a> believes the Miami weekend represents a total reset which could shake up the grid more than we anticipated. <\/p>\n

“Yes, I think it can [change the competitive order], but it’s more like a relaunch of the season, frankly, with the enforced break,” Brundle told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n

“Teams are going to turn up with dramatic changes and hopefully improved cars.<\/p>\n

“We don’t know who’s going to get it right. I think it’s going to be the story of the season actually, with such a massive change that we’ve had for 2026.”<\/p>\n

Ferrari<\/a> team principal Fred Vasseur echoed this, emphasising that the break has handed teams up and down the paddock time to pour through critical data.<\/p>\n

“Everyone will bring new upgrades to Miami,” said Vasseur.<\/p>\n

“They’ll have time to work on the software, which is why I said a new championship will start.”<\/p>\n

Despite the technical excitement, the early rounds of 2026 were rife with vocal displeasure from drivers struggling with the new regulations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brundle suggested that while the hardware is changing, the psychological game remains the same.<\/p>\n

“Will it satisfy the drivers? It’s quite clear that the drivers who have got fast cars and are winning are somewhat more satisfied than those drivers who are not,” he admitted.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Every team is set to bring a “new” car to the grid. \u00a0Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“So, I guess that’ll carry on. There will always be a huge amount of unintended consequences in anything you change in Formula 1.”<\/p>\n

Formula 1’s longer calendar season has seen a overhaul in how teams bring updated packages to races.<\/p>\n

Instead of having one race locked in to bring a major overhaul of a front wing or aerodynamic package, teams are choosing to bring multiple minor changes that will improve the car long-term.<\/p>\n

“It’s more common to see teams drip feed parts more regularly,” explained Eric Blandin, aerodynamics director at Aston Martin’s F1 team.<\/p>\n

“You also want to try and front load your season with upgrades.<\/p>\n

“By introducing upgrades as soon as they are ready, you can benefit from that additional performance for longer improving overall performance.”<\/p>\n

Miami’s first practice is a one-hour outing, set for May 2 at 2am (AEST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami’s opening practice session is shaping up to be the one of the most pivotal hours of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-637898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}