{"id":255097,"date":"2026-05-02T07:57:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T07:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/255097\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T07:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T07:57:21","slug":"miami-gp-circus-guide-plus-kimi-antonellis-cool-demeanor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/255097\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami GP circus guide. Plus: Kimi Antonelli\u2019s cool demeanor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox twice a week during the season and weekly in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Welcome back to Prime Tire, where today I am going to eat a $100 hot dog at the Miami Grand Prix. More on if I survive \u2014 and if the finance department doesn\u2019t censor me \u2014 to come in Tuesday\u2019s edition.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Patrick, and Madeline Coleman will be along shortly. Let\u2019s go. But first, if you haven\u2019t already, please\u00a0fill out our F1 fan survey<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Also, enjoy this no-context photo of F1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli, snapped by Madeline.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

New Regs: And first stress test at Miami GP<\/p>\n

The FIA announced\u00a0a set of rule tweaks before Miami,<\/a>\u00a0covering four areas:<\/p>\n

ERS deployment
\nQualifying energy limits
\nRace start systems
\nThe closing-speed problem that produced Ollie Bearman\u2019s 50G-force crash at Suzuka<\/p>\n

The goal is less lift-and-coast, less yo-yo racing, fewer moments where a driver accidentally overtakes someone because the battery had things to do.\u00a0It\u2019s something.<\/p>\n

And also, depending on your driver of choice: \u201ca tickle\u201d (said by Max Verstappen), \u201cnot really much different on the sim\u201d (Lewis Hamilton) and \u201ca step in the right direction\u201d (approximately every other driver in Miami on Thursday).<\/p>\n

Oscar Piastri put it most plainly: You can\u2019t actually fix the problem without changing the power unit hardware. Which is true! And also impossible to do between races! So here we are, applying the scalpel and hoping it\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n

Madeline has the\u00a0full story on driver opinions here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Miami is an interesting test case \u2014 teams have no recent data for how these cars behave here. They have a 90-minute practice session today, and then sprint qualifying, a sprint race, qualifying and a grand prix.<\/p>\n

The circuit is also energy-rich with long straights. I thought it was notable in the news conference on Thursday that Isack Hadjar said: \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a challenging track for the power units we have. I think it\u2019s going to look good, but on some other tracks it\u2019s definitely going to be harder. But let\u2019s see tomorrow how it feels inside the car and we\u2019ll know more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two related housekeeping notes:<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s practice has been extended to 90 minutes (from the usual 60) to help teams gather some of that information before sprint qualifying in the evening.
\nRain is in the forecast for the race on Sunday. This is not a small thing: There\u2019s currently an 88 percent chance of rain and a 53 percent chance of thunderstorms. U.S. law requires any major outdoor event to halt during a thunderstorm because the medical helicopter can\u2019t fly.The drivers who\u2019ve sampled these cars in the wet are not exactly reassuring. Antonelli drove one in the rain at Mercedes\u2019 Silverstone shakedown and called it \u201cvery tricky.\u201d Sainz flagged standing water on the flat track surface, visibility and the track\u2019s narrowness, and said he hoped they could get clarity in the drivers\u2019 briefing before Sunday.<\/p>\n

Hadjar and Antonelli both raised the same concern independently: Intermediate tires have been almost impossible to bring up to temperature, meaning if there\u2019s serious water, you\u2019re going straight to full wets. Nobody has done that in competition yet.<\/p>\n

So on top of everything else, we may be barreling toward a thicket of unknowns this weekend.<\/p>\n

On driver opinions<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a pattern to how drivers are talking about the regulation tweaks, and it aligns so clearly with the constructors\u2019 standings that I keep waiting for someone to point it out in a news conference and cause a diplomatic incident.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s who said what:<\/p>\n

George Russell (Mercedes, first in the constructors\u2019 championship):\u00a0Essentially said the FIA delivered on every specific complaint the drivers raised. \u201cWe\u2019ve told them what we\u2019re not happy about, and they\u2019ve gone out and changed the regs, and they\u2019ve achieved what we\u2019ve asked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But move down the order and the temperature shifts.<\/p>\n

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (McLaren, third):\u00a0Mixed. Norris was the most expansive on what drivers actually want (proper slipstreaming, cars on each other\u2019s bumpers, yo-yo overtaking gone). But he\u2019s realistic: You can\u2019t ask manufacturers to absorb fundamental rule shifts mid-season when one team is running away with it. Piastri said that driver input probably \u201cshould be considered, but not solely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari, second):\u00a0Said the drivers don\u2019t have a seat at the table and it needs to change, and that every time they push for progress, it\u2019s \u201csmall baby steps each time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further back still:\u00a0Pierre Gasly (Alpine, fifth) called it \u201cnot a game changer.\u201d Carlos Sainz (Williams, ninth) said he doesn\u2019t believe anyone will \u201ccome up with a magic bullet here that will suddenly change everything.\u201d Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac, 10th) called it \u201cquite a small step.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s\u00a0Lance Stroll\u00a0(Aston Martin, last). He tested F3 cars over the break and said they were \u201ca thousand times more fun and better to drive.\u201d He addressed\u00a0what we talked about last time<\/a>\u00a0with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali defending the regulations: that F1 is a business that wants to protect itself, that it\u2019s happy that people are watching regardless, but that \u201cthe drivers, the fans, the people that really know about racing know what it was before.\u201d He added: \u201cSome guys can say it, some guys cannot say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lance Stroll, whose father owns his team, can certainly say it.<\/p>\n

Miami GP: Today\u2019s schedule<\/p>\n

FP1:\u00a0In today\u2019s 90-minute free practice session, Charles Leclerc led the way at 1:29.310. He was followed by Verstappen and Piastri.<\/p>\n

Sprint qualifying:\u00a04:30 p.m. ET\/9:30 p.m. UK<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be\u00a0live-blogging through it<\/a>! Now here\u2019s Madeline from the paddock.<\/p>\n

Inside the Paddock with Madeline Coleman<\/p>\n

Verstappen is still determining what his F1 future looks like, saying there\u2019s \u201cnothing new\u201d about whether he\u2019ll retire before his contract is up at the end of 2028. This also comes at a time when Verstappen is competing in more GT3 races, and has been highly critical of F1\u2019s new technical regulations, calling the cars \u201canti-racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said about his future in Miami on Thursday: \u201cNothing new, to be honest, on that side. In those weeks, I\u2019ve been busy with other things.\u00a0I still have time and I\u2019m taking my time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the other question about his F1 future that arose during the April break was in regard to the news around his race engineer GianPiero Lambiase. He will be leaving his role at Red Bull for McLaren by 2028. Verstappen and Lambiase have worked together since 2016, and the Dutchman previously said that he wouldn\u2019t want to work with anyone else.<\/p>\n

Now? That\u2019s changed. Verstappen recognizes he will have to work with someone else in order to drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, times change and the offer that he got \u2026 I would be an idiot to try to keep him,\u201d Verstappen said. \u201cIt\u2019s not only about me all the time; it\u2019s also about his career and moving forward. For me, it was a no-brainer, to be honest. And yeah, about the future, that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking at now with a different race engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to you, Patrick.<\/p>\n

Hakuna Matata: The wunderkind leader<\/p>\n

Mercedes leads, well, everything, as we rev up again. Antonelli has 72 points, Russell has 63, Leclerc has 49 and Hamilton has 41. In the constructors\u2019, Mercedes has 135, Ferrari 90 and then there\u2019s a long drop off for everyone else.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s talk about the 19-year-old leading all of it.<\/p>\n

Antonelli opened his Miami news conference by asking the moderator, Tom Clarkson, how\u00a0the London Marathon<\/a>\u00a0went. Not answering a question, asking one. Unprompted. Then Antonelli asked which shoes he wore for the marathon.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the behavior of a teenager stressed about leading the F1 world championship.<\/p>\n

When someone eventually got around to asking him about being the youngest driver ever to lead the F1 championship, he gave a thoughtful, measured answer:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m very well aware that it\u2019s not going to be easy and that the pressure is going to be high, but I\u2019m also aware that if I just focus on my things without worrying too much about the rest, then we can do great things together.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sounded like someone who has thought seriously about how not to think too seriously about things. It\u2019s also very early in the season. The real pressure is months away. But for now, Antonelli sounds like he\u2019s in a good headspace.<\/p>\n

Outside the Points<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd27 Aston Martin took its car to Honda\u2019s Sakura facility during the break and put it on a dyno \u2014 more sensors, more data, a better look at the vibration problem that\u2019s been giving its drivers genuine nerve-damage fears since preseason. Honda says it found \u201cgood progress,\u201d but nobody\u00a0is expecting a Miami F1 miracle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfce\ufe0f It\u2019s Cadillac\u2019s first home race, and they\u2019ve got a new floor, new front wing, new rear brake ducts and new rear suspension tracks. And its own fan grandstand, which I\u2019m invading today. Luke has the full breakdown of its debut U.S. race\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf6b And, finally, Alex brought Madeline and me F1 Kit Kats yesterday. Don\u2019t worry,\u00a0we have reported him to the authorities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Prime Tire? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[31514,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-255097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-formula-1","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}