MIAMI GARDENS — New technical regulations and team debuts, an upended schedule and the youngest championship leader in the history of the sport all make this year’s Formula One Crypto.com Grand Prix of Miami one of the most anticipated rounds of competition in South Florida’s brief and celebrated history hosting the world-renowned racing series.
Formula One has certainly garnered headlines this season as much for circumstances off-track as for the product it is providing on-track. The current war in the Middle East necessitated the cancellation of April races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, but drivers and teams started arriving in Miami Gardens in mid-April eager to get back to racing on the 19-turn 3.363-mile Miami International Autodrome circuit around Hard Rock Stadium.
Watch Miami Grand Prix on Apple TV
The expanded 22-car grid for the May 3 (4 p.m. on Apple TV) will include for the first time, a two-car American-backed effort by Cadillac Formula 1, featuring two of the series’ most popular and accomplished drivers, Mexican Sergio Perez and Finland’s Valterri Bottas. Additionally, Audi Formula 1 makes its two-car debut having assumed operations of the Sauber team with drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.
At only 19, Italian Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest competitor to lead – and possibly win – the Formula One championship. The Mercedes driver has won the last two grand prix – at China and at Japan – the first race wins of his career. And he now leads Mercedes teammate George Russell – who won the season-opening race in Australia – by nine points atop the standings.
Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton are third and fourth, respectively, 23 and 31 points off Antonelli’s pace.
Reigning world champion, McLaren’s Lando Norris, is fifth in the championship – 47 points off Antonelli – after failing even to start the China race. His teammate, last year’s Miami Grand Prix race winner Oscar Piastri, is sixth in the standings, failing to start both the season-opener at his home Australian course and at China. He rallied with a podium finish – runner-up – at Japan but sits an uncharacteristic 51 points out of the championship lead.
Four-time world champion and two-time Miami race winner Max Verstappen of the mighty Red Bull Racing team is ninth in the championship – 60 points off Antonelli’s pace – without a single top-five finish. His team’s uncharacteristic performance as well as the slow McLaren start to its current title defense is indicative of what some would characterize as a stunning early championship standings situation.
“I’m not even frustrated anymore,” Verstappen told reporters after qualifying in Japan. “I’m beyond that.
“I don’t know the right word in English,’’ the Dutch driver added. “I don’t know what to make of it, to be honest. Probably no words. I just cannot. … I don’t get upset about it; I don’t get disappointed, frustrated by it anymore with what’s going on.”
Massive technical rules changes create “Mario Kart’ racing situation
What’s going on is a massive change in technical rules for the 2026 season that Verstappen famously said created a racing situation more like a “Mario Kart” video game than the world’s premier open-wheel competition.
Terms like “harvesting” and “super-clipping” have become buzzwords.
The 2026 hybrid engines – which are half combustion engine and half electric motor -introduced for this year have necessitated a battery-powered “boost” triggered by the driver in the middle of laps. While it has meant more passing in the interim, Verstappen’s criticism of the new situation has been indicative of the views by several drivers and teams.
Recently, the sport’s governing body, the Federation of International de l’Automobile (FIA), issued several modifications to the rules. Those included a key reduction to the maximum energy recharge that will – ideally – mean less “harvesting” or the need to charge the battery as much during prime braking zones.
The speed discrepancy, however, may still exist on the straightaways, with the risk of creating potentially precarious situations.
None too surprisingly, the drivers and teams that have quickly proven to adapt best to the season’s new rules and technical specifications are more supportive to the regulation changes and those that haven’t are less so. Certainly, the championship standings coming to Miami reflect a far greater divide on the issue than in recent seasons.
Strategy remains paramount and skillfully navigating the new technical demands has created another level of intrigue to what has always been a compelling sporting product.
“We know from last year, that even when you have the best car you still need to operate it at an incredibly high level,’’ Piastri said following his podium in Japan. “I think today on our side we did a really good job of that. But I think it’s interesting to see when someone else has the fastest car that it’s not that straightforward. I think the fact that I could keep George [Russell] behind for so long was really encouraging.
“But we’re under no illusion. We did everything right this weekend and we still got beaten by 15 seconds, so we’ve got a pretty big gap to fill. I’m confident that we can get there, but yes, we’ve still got some work to do.”
Leclerc agreed, “I think doing a step back on those first three races, there’s a clear thing that we need to improve and this is surely the power unit.
“In a year like this one everything is very new,’’ added Leclerc, who won pole position and finished runner-up in the inaugural Miami Grand Prix in 2022. “I think the rate of improvements of every team is massive, so there’s a lot more than just the power unit. There’s putting the tires in the right window, there’s the aero, there’s the chassis, and on that we’ll work flat out in order to try and close the gap as much as possible to the Mercedes and to hopefully keep the McLaren behind, and then we’ll see.
“But yes, I think the power unit is maybe our main weakness at the moment, but there are many other things that can definitely influence and help us to close the gap in the meantime.”
Formula One Grand Prix of Miami
Sunday, May 3, 4 p.m.
Miami International Autodrome, Miami Gardens
TV: Apple TV
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: New F1 technical rules, team debuts, upended schedule lead to Miami GP
Reporting by Holly Cain, Special to The Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
