After a forced hiatus in April, the 2026 F1 season finally resumes with this week’s Miami Grand Prix, which has been likened to the effective start of a “new championship”.
F1 teams will take to the track at the Miami International Autodrome in unison from Friday for the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29, after the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs left a five-week gap in the original 24-race schedule.
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As F1 resumes this weekend in Miami after a long break, we take a look back at what happened in the first three races of the season.
Miami currently represents the fourth race weekend of the season and second sprint event, but the fact that the team has still had a month to work on its new 2026 car back at the factory since Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli took the championship lead with victory at Suzuka means the return to action is expected to be a little different than usual.
Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur said his team had proven to be championship leader Mercedes’ closest challenger in the race before the suspension and is hoping to close the gap with Miami, but this will be something of a fresh start to the season.
“Everyone will bring another upgrade to Miami,” Vasseur told Sky Sports Italia in Suzuka.
“They will have time to work on the software. That’s why I said a new championship begins.”
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It was a sentiment echoed by his Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff, whose team has won all three races and one sprint so far, with the Silver Arrows all set to catch at the start of F1’s new rules era.
“Teams are learning and drivers are starting to learn how to optimize these systems to their benefit. (In Japan) we saw the first signs in the first two races that it looked like a home run, but it wasn’t and we were winning every time,” Wolff said.
“For me, Miami is also a place for a fresh start: How are the upgrades that people are bringing in working? How are all the other systems optimized?
“It’s going to be exciting.”
Car upgrades, rule tweaks and one team to watch – Q&A on F1’s return
Why were there no races in April?
F1 was scheduled to race in Bahrain on April 12, two weeks after Suzuka, before heading straight to Saudi Arabia on April 19, but both events were canceled for safety reasons due to the conflict in the Middle East.
The cancellation resulted in an unscheduled five-week hiatus between events for the first half of F1’s 2026 season, as there was no valid time to set up an alternative venue and no other races were scheduled in April.
Excluding the summer break, this is the longest gap between races in a season since the opening two races in 1999.
What did teams and drivers do during their breaks?
Unlike the August summer break and the off-season winter break, when regulations require teams to close their factories for a period of time, the 11 teams on the grid were free to continue working on their cars without spectators throughout April.
The annual budget cap of $215m (£159m) and the respective aerodynamic testing restrictions that each team must undertake remain in force, as well as a ban on full track testing during the season (although some restricted running still took place on permitted filming days and Pirelli test days). The early 2026 car development schedule would have been set long before the Middle East round was cancelled, but the extra time at the factory has no doubt given designers and engineers on and off the grid an opportunity to hone and enhance the package for Miami and other races.
Some teams, such as McLaren, have always been eyeing Miami, where the Woking factory introduced innovative upgrades in 2024, as the first venue for major car upgrade packages early in the season. That’s certainly the case for the current world champions, but don’t expect them to be the only ones to make a big splash this weekend and in Canada in three weeks.
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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said last week: “Our intention has always been to deliver something like a completely new car for the North American race, particularly in terms of aerodynamic upgrades.”
“We were able to stick to this plan. Of course, the fact that the calendar was changed kind of helped, just as I’m sure it helped all the other teams who were able to work more rationally on upgrading their cars rather than being busy racing.”
“But overall, we’re going to see an all-new MCL40 in Miami and across Canada (May 22-24).
“Again, this is what I expect from most of our competitors and it won’t necessarily be a change in the packing order. Effectively it’s just a check to see who was able to add more performance in the same time frame and I would like to stress that if we look at Mercedes and to some extent Ferrari, some performance could be restored for us as well.”
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George Russell says he expects Mercedes to remain at the top after the FIA adjusts new regulations ahead of the Miami Grand Prix
The focus at the circuit from Friday will therefore be on the upgrade packages being brought to the cars through the field, how this will be reflected in the lap times and whether there is any sign of a significant change in the standings. For teams such as Aston Martin and Williams, who have started the season with particularly disappointing results, the break clearly comes at a very beneficial time and will be hoping for a bigger leap forward compared to the rest of the squad.
But perhaps just as importantly, the break also gave the team time to digest the wealth of data and understanding gained from the opening three race weekends running the 2026 cars, which are still very new to the sport and very complex.
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That data will inform the team’s thinking about what aerodynamic upgrades to prioritize for the remainder of the year, as well as how to operate the car and power unit in the best possible way to improve performance on race weekends.
As for the drivers, in addition to having the opportunity to focus on fitness training and have some unexpected free time, they will also spend a lot of time working with the team’s simulators and engineering teams to better understand how to get the most out of their respective cars and driving styles in Miami.
What has changed since F1 last took off?
When teams are not working on improving their cars, their technical chiefs have been involved in discussions with F1 and the FIA over tweaks to the regulations agreed to be introduced by Miami.
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Lando Norris reveals drivers have worked ‘more closely than ever’ with the FIA to adjust rules ahead of Miami Grand Prix
Changes to the power unit regulations focus on energy distribution, with the aim in particular to allow drivers to attack qualifying laps in a more natural flat-out manner, and in races to ensure that there are fewer rapid close-in speeds between cars on undesirable parts of the circuit.
In light of these changes, and the fact that F1 has been off the track for five weeks, the first practice session in Miami, which is also the only practice session of the sprint weekend, will be extended from 60 to 90 minutes to give drivers and teams a chance to fully become accustomed to the new parameters.
How is the championship game going?
Mercedes restarted the season leading both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships with three wins in the first three race weekends. It was a start to the season that clearly showed why Mercedes were being tipped by most pundits to win the title long before the season began.
There is a 45-point difference between the Silver Arrows and second-place Ferrari, and current two-time champion McLaren is already in third place with an 89-point deficit, but it was boosted by its strong second-place finish at Suzuka.
Red Bull are in sixth place behind Haas and Alpine with just 16 points so far.
Meanwhile, Mercedes drivers occupy first and second place in the drivers’ standings, with 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli unexpectedly leading bookmakers’ favorite George Russell by 72 to 63 points, giving the Italian his first two consecutive victories in F1.
Ferrari’s top driver Charles Leclerc was third, 23 points behind Antonelli, with teammate Lewis Hamilton a further eight points behind in fourth, and reigning champion Lando Norris an even bigger gap in fifth with 25 points.
Oscar Piastri was sixth with 21 points, while Max Verstappen was stuck in ninth with 12 points amid Red Bull’s early pace battle.
Sky Sports F1 Miami GP Schedule
Thursday, April 30th
7pm: Drivers press conference
10pm: Paddock Uncut
Friday, May 1st
2:25pm: F2 practice
4:30pm: Miami GP Practice 1 (session starts at 5pm)*
7:25pm: F2 Qualifying
8:10pm: Team boss press conference
8:40pm: Miami GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 9:30pm)
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A look back at some of the most dramatic moments that happened around the Miami International Autodrome.
Saturday, May 2nd
2:55pm: F2 Sprint
4pm: Miami GP sprint build-up
5pm: Miami GP Sprint
6:30pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook
8pm: Miami GP qualifying build-up*
9pm: Miami GP Qualifying*
11pm: Ted’s Qualification Notes*
Sunday, May 3rd
5:25pm: F2 Feature Race
7pm: Miami GP Build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
9pm: Miami Grand Prix*
11pm: Miami Grand Prix reaction: Checkered flag*
12am: Ted’s Notes*
*Also held at Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 resumes on Friday with the Miami Grand Prix, the second sprint weekend of the season, being broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
