{"id":256439,"date":"2026-05-03T09:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T09:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/256439\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T09:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T09:59:10","slug":"2026-miami-grand-prix-moved-as-race-threatened-by-lightning-storms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/256439\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Miami Grand Prix Moved As Race Threatened By Lightning Storms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday\u2019s Miami Grand Prix<\/a> is no longer a 4 p.m. race.<\/p>\n

The race will now start at 1:00 p.m. ET, three hours earlier than originally planned, due to the threat of thunderstorms rolling into southern Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The FIA\u2019s own weather report sets out a fairly unwelcome picture.<\/p>\n

A front is forecast to stall across southern Florida and linger through Sunday, with showers and embedded thunderstorms arriving in two rounds \u2013 the first overnight into early morning, with a lull possible around midday, and a second, more intense wave building through late afternoon and into the evening.<\/p>\n

That second wave is the problem.<\/p>\n

Afternoon and evening storms are expected to bring \u201cfrequent lightning<\/a>, brief wind gusts from 50-70km\/h, and perhaps small hail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Lightning Rules the Decision<\/p>\n

Florida law is unambiguous on this.<\/p>\n

The series had to comply with the \u201930-30\u2032 lightning safety<\/a> guideline, which requires that if lightning is detected within 10 miles of the venue<\/a>, all personnel must immediately seek shelter for at least 30 minutes after any strike \u2013 a scenario that would force the race to sit under red flag conditions for the entire original window.<\/p>\n

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Running a 57-lap grand prix under that sword was never a realistic option.<\/p>\n

The FIA, Formula 1<\/a>, and the Miami promoter confirmed the change in a joint statement: \u201cFollowing discussions between FIA, F1 and the Miami promoter, the decision has been taken to move the start of Sunday\u2019s Miami Grand Prix to 13:00 local time in Miami due to the weather forecast that is expected to bring heavier rainstorms later in the afternoon close to the original planned race start time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision has been taken to ensure the least amount of disruption to the race, and to ensure the maximum possible window to complete the Grand Prix in the best conditions and to prioritise the safety of drivers<\/a>, fans, teams and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not the first time F1 has made this kind of call. The 2024 S\u00e3o Paulo Grand Prix also featured a heavily revised schedule, including qualifying being moved to Sunday morning and the race itself pushed earlier.<\/p>\n

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The difference in Miami is that the new cars<\/a> add another layer of uncertainty to what is already a chaotic forecast.<\/p>\n

The 2026 Cars Make a Wet Race a Genuine Unknown<\/p>\n

With only three races run in F1\u2019s all-new 2026 machinery so far, the majority of the field has had minimal time, or none at all, driving<\/a> their cars in wet conditions.<\/p>\n

If race control declares low-grip conditions during the event, the 2026 cars will be further restricted: boost mode will be unavailable, MGU-K deployment will be capped at 250kW rather than 350kW, and Straight Line Mode will only be permitted on the front wing.<\/p>\n

Ferrari<\/a>\u2018s Lewis Hamilton<\/a>, who lines up sixth on the grid, has more wet-weather experience in the 2026 cars than most after completing two days of dedicated Pirelli testing at Fiorano during F1\u2019s enforced April break. \u201cI\u2019ve definitely done more wet testing than probably ever before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli<\/a> is not exactly sweating it.<\/p>\n

He appeared enthused by the prospect of a rolling rather than stationary start, which could be used if conditions are wet, useful, given his struggles off the line this season.<\/p>\n

The 1 p.m. start at least gives organizers a fighting chance of getting 57 laps done before the worst<\/a> of it arrives. Whether that window holds is a different matter entirely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday\u2019s Miami Grand Prix is no longer a 4 p.m. race. The race will now start at 1:00…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[105986,70139,123,108650,125,124,105479],"class_list":["post-256439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-fia","tag-grand-prix","tag-miami","tag-miami-grand-prix","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-southern-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256439","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=256439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}