Free Practice 1 | Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix
Author(s): Reyna
Date: 2026-05-01
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INTRO
Formula One™ is back after an unprecedented mid-season break and we restart the season in Miami at the Miami International Autodrome™. This 5.4km street circuit promises an intriguing weekend as the teams used the break as an excuse to develop the car, the only team who opted not to upgrade for Miami was Aston Martin. Heres what everyone else brought:
UPGRADES
- McLaren: Improved cooling alongside a completely revised floor and rear wing
- Mercedes: Minor cooling adjustments and a slight adjustment to the tailpipe to help with rear downforce
- RBR: Major upgrade to the front wing endplates, new inlets and exits on the sidepods, and as with everyone else they've improved cooling around the sidepods, floor, and engine cover (which itself required a rework of rear suspension to interface correctly). Finally, they have also improved their rear wing actuator for Straight Mode.
- Ferrari: Adjusted front wing endplate and front suspension geometry to manage the wake from the front wing, altered the front suspension to aid in cooling (as they have with the beam wing and rear wing endplates). In addition, the front of the floor has been changed to work more efficiently with the new wing and suspension, the rear end has had a major shake up with a new diffuser, set of rear suspension, and tail. The rear wing also received an upgrade aiming to provide extra downforce in Cornering Mode while still shedding as much drag in Straight Mode.
- Williams: Floor redesign aiming to make setup changes less sensitive and allowing it to work more consistantly in many different situations. They've also brought cooling upgrades with the sidepod, engine cover, mirrors, tailpipe bracket, fairings around the beam wing, and rear brace wing. Theyve also looked to optimise the flow across the car in all those areas.
- RB: Total change in the rear, with the rear corner, suspension, floor edge, and rear endplates all being changed for better airflow. The rear wing itself also got upgraded in hopes to generate more downforce here in Miami, and a minor circuit specific update at the front wing has been brought for the same purpose.
- HAAS: Minor change to the diffuser to bring slightly more downforce.
- Audi: The edge of the floor and diffuser both got changed in an effort to increase the aero load at the rear. Once again, minor front alterations near the suspension for cooling.
- Alpine: Front corner and rear suspension changes for cooling optimisations. The Endstone based team also brought a completley new rear wing and endplates, with the addition of an element on the Rear Impact Structure.
- Cadillac: Finally the newest team on the F1™ grid brought some cooling upgrades on the front endplates, front wing flap, mirror arms, and rear suspension. Cadilliac also brought a reprofiled forward board, changes to the rear corners of the floor, an altered diffuser, and new tailpipe bracket all aiming to improve aerodynamic load to the rear of the car.
TRACK DATA
With a Safety Car chance of 50% and a VSC chance of 75% incidents are never far away at the Autodrome. Though it may be another type of intervention that affects the Grand Prix™ on Sunday, it appears a major thunderstorm may be approaching the Hard Rock Stadium which some reports say could lead to the Miami Grand Prix being postponed or potentially cancelled.
PRACTICE REPORT
The extended Friday Practice got off to a great start today with everyone opting for the C3 Hard tyre aside from the two Cadilliacs who opted for the Medium. An early talking point was Ferrari and the return of their "Macarena" wing, a design Red Bull Racing have their own version of that debuted here today. Aston Martin had a mare of a session once more, failing to get out intially due to technical issues with their garage computer systems. Colapinto reported a weird smell from his Mercedes engine early on, the first of three Mercedes HPP issues today. George Russell radioed mentioning his turbo making a weird sound "like a steam engine" and his Mercedes teammate didnt come out during the final glory runs due to an issue with his PU. The only flag deployed was a single yellow caused by Gabriel Bortoleto locking up at Turn 1. McLaren did some testing of their new parts with flo vis paint seen on Lando's bargeboard and Oscar's mirror arm, the upgrades seemingly still interesting the team. Both Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen both complained about issues with their gearbox, a theme continuing from many seasons ago, it seems Red Bull cant quite perfect the shifting. Aston Martin were the first to come out on the Soft compound which didn't help their drivers much if at all initially, barely improving until the end. Lance Stroll was on the receiving end of some colourful team radio during the session, with both Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar, and Sergio Perez complaining of his blocking, a habit he'll have to shake before Sprint Quali later on. More engine issues plauged the Mercedes powered teams with Carlos Sainz also complaining of turbo problems, will this theme continue through the weekend? Lets hope not... The end of the session brought along the classic Soft tyre glory run, George Russell was the first to send his car on a flyer getting a 1:30.100 and ending up 3rd, Max was next and took provisional pole before Charles Leclerc took it back by three tenths of a second! Lewis Hamilton was next up and he had a great run until he went deep into Turn 17 and lost a heap of time taking 2rd off his former teammate. Norris was last of the top teams to go and had a purple first sector but got sent very deep into Turn 17 due to Alex Albon being near the racing line at the time.
FINAL CLASSIFICATION
- Charles Leclerc - 1:29.310
- Max Verstappen - +0.297
- Oscar Piastri - +0.448
- Lewis Hamilton - +0.467
- Kimi Antonelli - +0.769
- George Russell - +0.790
- Lando Norris - +0.898
- Pierre Gasly - +1.277
- Isack Hadjar - +1.563
- Carlos Sainz - +1.620
- Franco Colapinto - +1.705
- Alex Albon - +1.714
- Oliver Bearman - +1.781
- Gabriel Bortoleto - +1.801
- Nico Hulkenberg - +2.285
- Esteban Ocon - +2.325
- Liam Lawson - +2.338
- Sergio Perez - +2.737
- Fernando Alonso - +3.283
- Valterri Bottas - +3.452
- Arvid Lindblad - +3.552
- Lance Stroll - +3.649