{"id":636205,"date":"2026-04-29T10:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T10:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/636205\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T10:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T10:38:08","slug":"after-formula-1s-unexpected-break-heres-what-you-need-to-know-ahead-of-the-miami-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/636205\/","title":{"rendered":"After Formula 1’s unexpected break, here’s what you need to know ahead of the Miami Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"

After an unexpected month-long break, the 2026 Formula 1 season resumes on May 3 with the Miami Grand Prix (4 p.m. ET, Apple TV<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The race in South Florida was set to be the sixth of the season when the schedule was released. But the war involving the United States and Israel against Iran caused April\u2019s Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to be cancelled.<\/p>\n

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The Miami Grand Prix also marks the debut of Yahoo Sports\u2019 partnership with Apple TV<\/a> for F1 coverage. You can watch practice and qualifying coverage on Yahoo Sports\u2019 platforms for free. Free Practice 1 \u2014 extended to 90 minutes \u2014 begins at Noon ET on Friday, May 1, while qualifying takes place at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 2.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you need to know \u2014 or catch up on \u2014 after the first three races of the F1 season.<\/p>\n

Can anyone keep up with Mercedes?<\/p>\n

Was the unplanned break beneficial for the hopes of the nine other teams in the garage?<\/p>\n

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Mercedes has been absolutely dominant through the first three races of the season. George Russell beat teammate Kimi Antonelli by nearly three seconds in the season opener in Australia with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc over 15 seconds back.<\/p>\n

In China, Antonelli scored the first win of his career by more than 5.5 seconds over Russell. Ferrari\u2019s Lewis Hamilton was over 25 seconds back in third. And then in Japan \u2014 a race that was basically a processional \u2014 Antonelli beat McLaren\u2019s Oscar Piastri by nearly 14 seconds.<\/p>\n

Russell finished fourth in that race thanks to Antonelli\u2019s pit strategy, so Antonelli is the points leader. After playing catch-up following the 2022 regulation changes, Mercedes is the clear early winner of the 2026 changes. Especially on the power unit side.<\/p>\n

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There are indications that Ferrari may have the better car \u2014 and McLaren was in the ballpark in Japan \u2014 but Mercedes\u2019 engine has clearly been the best on the grid so far. Was there enough development time for teams to find gains \u2026 and will it matter? Mercedes could have found even more advantages itself.<\/p>\n

Tweaks to the engine regulations<\/p>\n

The 2026 rules have led to a bizarre experience for both drivers and fans so far. Thanks to engines that are roughly half-powered by traditional combustion technology and half-powered by battery, drivers have had to learn when and where they need to charge their batteries to produce optimal lap times.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s led to a phenomenon called \u201csuper clipping,\u201d where the battery has to be charged while drivers are going full throttle. The process slows the cars down; a driver could have his foot flat to the floor and his car will get slower<\/p>\n

In an effort reduce battery management, F1 has tweaked its engine rules ahead of the Miami Grand Prix after multiple meetings between drivers and teams. Will they make a big impact? Who knows.<\/p>\n

The overall crux of the battery issue is unchanged, however. The battery capacity of an F1 car is 4 megajoules. But the maximum permitted recharge during a qualifying lap has been 8MJ. That means a driver had the ability to deploy the battery power in his engine twice over the course of a lap \u2026 but only if he recharged the battery in the interim.<\/p>\n

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That 8MJ limit is now down to seven. And the battery boost in race conditions has also been limited.<\/p>\n

How this all plays out remains to be seen. But it\u2019s likely to reduce the type of situation that we saw in Japan, when Ollie Bearman had a hard crash when he closed in on Franco Colapinto entering a corner thanks to their massive straight-line speed difference due to battery management.<\/p>\n

Which cars have gone on a diet?<\/p>\n

Red Bull has been one of the biggest disappointments of the 2026 season. Four-time champion Max Verstappen is ninth in the standings. Isack Hadjar is 12th. And he has four points.<\/p>\n

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A big reason why could be the weight of the team\u2019s car. There have been suggestions that the car is significantly above the 768 kilogram minimum weight. And every additional KG over the minimum adds lap time.<\/p>\n

Williams has also been dealing with weight issues on its new car. And it is struggling too. After earning best of the rest status in 2025 behind McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, Williams driver Carlos Sainz has the team\u2019s only two points of the season. If Red Bull and Williams have been able to shed some kilos, they could start to perform near their potential.<\/p>\n

What about Aston Martin and Honda?<\/p>\n

The disaster of the 2026 season is Aston Martin\u2019s partnership with Honda. The team\u2019s cars are shaky \u2014 literally \u2014 and also very slow. That\u2019s a terrible combination.<\/p>\n

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Neither Fernando Alonso or Lance Stroll has scored a point so far this season. It\u2019s a far cry from 2023, when Alonso finished fourth in the season standings and scored podium finishes in five of the first six races.<\/p>\n

But you probably shouldn\u2019t expect any big leap in Aston Martin\u2019s performance in Miami. The Honda engines are still very underpowered. Even if the team can get its vibration issue under control, the cars may not get much faster.<\/p>\n

A look at the betting odds<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be unsurprised to know that Russell and Antonelli are the massive favorites at BetMGM.<\/p>\n

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Each driver is +150 to win, with Piastri at +800 and 2025 F1 champion Lando Norris at 10-1 along with Leclerc. Hamilton is 14-1 and no one else has odds better than Verstappen\u2019s 33-1.<\/p>\n

After that, it\u2019s longshot city. Alpine\u2019s Pierre Gasly is 150-1 and everyone else follows. Cadillac\u2019s Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez are each 2000-1. While those odds might be tempting in a 22-car field, we don\u2019t recommend you make that wager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After an unexpected month-long break, the 2026 Formula 1 season resumes on May 3 with the Miami Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[15915,86840,49,48,3025,578,930,576,577,3024,25251,932,91538,51857,82],"class_list":["post-636205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-apple-tv","tag-bahrain-grand-prix","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-f1","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-george-russell","tag-kimi-antonelli","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-miami-grand-prix","tag-saudi-arabian-grand-prix","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}