IT'S RACE WEEK: 5 storylines we're excited about ahead of the 2026 Miami Grand Prix

After four weekends without a Formula 1 race, we will soon be back on track with a spectacular event in the United States. As the paddock heads to the second Sprint weekend of the season, there are a number of talking points and unknowns to get stuck into ahead of the trip to Miami.

Upgrades, and lots of ‘em

The Miami Grand Prix has seen some teams bring significant upgrade packages in the past, but it’s a whole new ball game this year.

New regulations mean an increased development rate in the early part of the season, as teams are able to find bigger gains as they explore different directions that have been opened up by the rules.

Where many of the teams might have been aiming to bring their first major updates to the Bahrain Grand Prix, the two scheduled rounds in April being unable to take place has meant more time to develop and manufacture new parts, as well as additional spares before the race weekend in Miami.

The scale of the changes could be massive across the grid, with McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella going as far as describing his team’s efforts as representing a whole new car, and he doesn’t think they’ll be alone.

“In our intent, there was always the idea to deliver a completely new car – especially from a aerodynamic upgrades point of view – for the North American races,” Stella said. “So we could keep up with this plan. Obviously, the fact that the calendar has been changed sort of helped a little bit, like I'm sure helped all the other teams that could work more streamlined towards upgrading the car rather than being busy with racing.

“But I could say overall that across Miami and Canada, we will see an entirely new MCL40… I would like to stress that this is what I would expect of most of our competitors.”

Antonelli’s happy hunting ground

Sometimes it’s a little hard to believe the current championship leader is only in his second season in F1, and even harder to recall the struggles he faced during the European swing of races last year.

Kimi Antonelli had an encouraging start to 2025, but the first headline moments came in Miami and Montreal. Prior to his first podium in Canada, the visit to the Miami International Autodrome saw Antonelli set the fastest time in Sprint Qualifying, and he followed that with a top three Qualifying performance, just 0.067s adrift of pole position.

Given the difficulties he faced with the Mercedes throughout the middle part of last year, Antonelli’s performance in Miami stands out as a particularly strong weekend. Arriving with a nine-point championship lead over George Russell after back-to-back wins from pole position, will he be able to replicate that on his return this year?

Regulation tweaks

This year’s regulations have been a major talking point among drivers and fans alike, and were always designed with mechanisms that could be adjusted if required once there was proven on-track data from race weekends.

With three rounds down in Australia, China and Japan, the unexpected gap in races provided a larger window for discussions to take place among the sport’s key stakeholders – also including the teams, drivers, FIA and power unit manufacturers – about any changes that could address certain aspects of car performance.

Meetings were described by many of those involved as extremely collaborative, and the main outcomes focused on trying to allow drivers to maximise Qualifying performance as well as reducing the likelihood of excessive closing speeds in race conditions.

The changes have been carefully considered and simulated using the data from the opening three events, but Miami will be the first true test of them in race conditions.

Two American teams and a first home race for Cadillac

Miami has quickly become a significant stop on the calendar for the entire field, with multiple teams carrying out additional activations and often running special liveries.

There will likely be a number of designs on display again this year, but two teams get to call it the first of three home races, as Haas return looking to add to a record of just three points – two of them in a Sprint – in the previous four editions. Given the strong form to start the year that sees Haas sitting fourth in the Teams’ Championship, more points will certainly be the target.

While the on-track aims are currently at a different stage to Haas, it will still be a big weekend for Cadillac as they make their debut on home soil. The team are hoping to bring their first upgrade package to Miami, but also feel the support from the American crowd as they continue their maiden season in the sport.

Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are sure to have a huge amount of backing during the race weekend, as is another member of the Cadillac line-up…

A Sprint weekend and an F2 US debut

It’s not just Cadillac getting to enjoy their first home race in Miami, but their third driver Colton Herta also has an unexpected chance to race in Formula 2 in the United States.

Herta has made the switch from IndyCar and with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia unable to take place in April – they were both set to feature F2 rounds – that has meant the next two North American F1 weekends will host instead. For the first time as either F2 or its previous guise as GP2, the feeder series will be racing on the continent, giving fans a chance to see the next generation racing twice over each weekend.

And speaking of racing twice, that’s exactly what the F1 grid will be doing as both Miami and Montreal are Sprint weekends, providing two opportunities to score points.

Given the length of the gap between races, and the amendments made to the regulations since the last time the teams were on track in Japan, the FIA has opted to extend the only practice session on Friday from its usual one-hour length to run for 90 minutes. It’s sure to be an action-packed weekend.