2026 Miami Grand Prix - Miami Intl. Autodrome, May 01 - 03

[venkyhere]

Sprint lap times, if anyone is interested. Not much deg, despite the high temperatures

https://i.ibb.co/7xRD9JK9/mia-sprint.png

Verstappen's overweight RB22 faster on 3 lap older tyres (even if by a smidgen) in avg race pace than both Mercs on fresh tyres ?
That can only mean that Redbull's mechanical/aero updates worked, PLUS Mercs screwed up their car setup for sprint.

[AR3-GP]

Norris:

“For the majority of the laps yesterday in qualifying you could push and you're not really thinking, I need to lift here earlier or I need to not get on throttle as much. It felt a little bit more normal and I think that was a nice thing.”

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/land ... /10817430/

[AR3-GP]

Verstappen's pace on used tires is curious.

[FrukostScones]

The only reason that the first races had back and forth is because Mercedes was the fastest car, had bad starts, and then had the pace to pass everyone. Now that Mercedes is no longer the fastest car, that cheap plot is dead.

Mclaren has the fastest car, and they also have good starts. No more cheap plot for F1. It has nothing to do with the regs changes. There was plenty of dueling behind the leaders. Hamilton vs Verstappen. Russell vs Antonelli. Hadjar vs Colapinto. Alonso vs Stroll and the Cadillacs. The group behind the Alpines.

With these reg changes, drivers can push more and the stronger drivers are putting distance between themselves and their weaker teammates. Exactly how F1 should be. Sport comes first.

Back and forth was happening because drivers were unused to the energy usage and thus handled it like a bull in a china shop. Use up too much to get ahead and then lose out on next straight. As predicted, they learned to do this better and make overtakes stick more often. But you still get energy use opening up opportunities (example Hadjar today)

Ofcourse if cars are in order of pace after T1 you probably won't get a lot of overtaking.

I agree on that first point too. Nothing that is happening now is particularly surprising, and it's kneejerk to blame it on the tweaks to the regulations.

a kneejerk reaction to a kneejerk reaction?!? what on earth...
( I agree that Miami Circuit is atypical, so we have to see what Montreal and MonacO.o bring.)

[search]

will be close for Piastri to make it to Q2, by the look of it

[zibby43]

The only reason that the first races had back and forth is because Mercedes was the fastest car, had bad starts, and then had the pace to pass everyone. Now that Mercedes is no longer the fastest car, that cheap plot is dead.

Mclaren has the fastest car, and they also have good starts. No more cheap plot for F1. It has nothing to do with the regs changes. There was plenty of dueling behind the leaders. Hamilton vs Verstappen. Russell vs Antonelli. Hadjar vs Colapinto. Alonso vs Stroll and the Cadillacs. The group behind the Alpines.

With these reg changes, drivers can push more and the stronger drivers are putting distance between themselves and their weaker teammates. Exactly how F1 should be. Sport comes first.

I think it's way too early to say McLaren have the fastest car.

Kimi on pole again and Merc still haven't bolted on their big update.

[AR3-GP]

The only reason that the first races had back and forth is because Mercedes was the fastest car, had bad starts, and then had the pace to pass everyone. Now that Mercedes is no longer the fastest car, that cheap plot is dead.

Mclaren has the fastest car, and they also have good starts. No more cheap plot for F1. It has nothing to do with the regs changes. There was plenty of dueling behind the leaders. Hamilton vs Verstappen. Russell vs Antonelli. Hadjar vs Colapinto. Alonso vs Stroll and the Cadillacs. The group behind the Alpines.

With these reg changes, drivers can push more and the stronger drivers are putting distance between themselves and their weaker teammates. Exactly how F1 should be. Sport comes first.

I think it's way too early to say McLaren have the fastest car.

Kimi on pole again and Merc still haven't bolted on their big update.

Right so maybe I was off but my point is still there. Merc bad starts is a cheap plot that made people think there is a battle for the lead. If the fastest car takes off from P1, there is little to be done. Reg tweaks don't change this.

[zibby43]

The only reason that the first races had back and forth is because Mercedes was the fastest car, had bad starts, and then had the pace to pass everyone. Now that Mercedes is no longer the fastest car, that cheap plot is dead.

Mclaren has the fastest car, and they also have good starts. No more cheap plot for F1. It has nothing to do with the regs changes. There was plenty of dueling behind the leaders. Hamilton vs Verstappen. Russell vs Antonelli. Hadjar vs Colapinto. Alonso vs Stroll and the Cadillacs. The group behind the Alpines.

With these reg changes, drivers can push more and the stronger drivers are putting distance between themselves and their weaker teammates. Exactly how F1 should be. Sport comes first.

I think it's way too early to say McLaren have the fastest car.

Kimi on pole again and Merc still haven't bolted on their big update.

Right so maybe I was off but my point is still there. Merc bad starts is a cheap plot that made people think there is a battle for the lead. If the fastest car takes off from P1, there is little to be done. Reg tweaks don't change this.

I need to see a few more races. I was premature in my declaration as well. It’s more of a suspicion. And if it’s correct, now instead of seeing a battle on track to reclaim P1, Merc (or insert X fastest car) will just sit outside the leading car’s dirty air and try for a tire offset strategy of some sort.