2026 Miami Thoughts
THE BIG PICTURE: They were never going to overhaul the rules after just three races. So, whether they went far enough, is up to the eye of the beholder. The new cars worked well at Miami, but Montreal with it's long straights, may be a different story.
EVENT: The fake marina is mostly gone, replaced by a replica cruise ship.
TRACK: Drivers either do well or terrible at this track.
SPRINT SHOOTOUT: McLaren makes good on their upgrades, Antonelli continues to sparkle, Ferrari is quick even if they faded, and Cadillac again outdoes Aston Martin.
SPRINT: Some great battles throughout the field while Norris ran off into the sunset.
SPRINT START: As expected, Leclerc's Ferrari gets off to a great start while Antonelli's Mercedes bogs down, the McLarens relive 2025, Verstappen and Hamilton do some wheel rubbing, and Hulkenberg went up in smoke before even getting to the grid.
QUALIFYING: Antonelli shows Mercedes hasn't fallen off the pace after all. Verstappen is loving the upgrades. Russell is thinking, oh crap. Alpine does well, while Haas is struggling.
RACE: An extremely entertaining race. This ruleset truly is a love/hate relationship.
START: Stop us if you heard this before: Antonelli gets a poor start; Leclerc goes into the lead. Meanwhile, Verstappen amazingly doesn't get hit as Hamilton and Colapinto bang wheels.
ANTONELLI: No luck this time. Kimi put his stamp on this race, when the Mercedes was arguably not the fastest car.
RUSSELL: Okay, so Miami has never been a track George has done well on. And Montreal is a track he excels. So, he really, really needs to dominate his teammate in Canada, or the whole season could very quickly unravel.
MERCEDES: They still won despite not bringing any updates while many other teams clearly caught up with them. They will have updates at Montreal. So much for the other teams catching up to them...
NORRIS: Lando took full advantage of the McLaren upgrades, claiming sprint pole and winning the sprint.
MCLAREN: Some could say they made another strategy gaffe. But how could they know for sure when Antonelli was going to pit to attempt the undercut?
TEAMMATES: Piastri was never close to Norris. Russell had nothing for Antonelli. Hamilton was a no-show compared to Leclerc. This race had quite the distinction between teammates on the top teams.
VERSTAPPEN: How many times does Max do a complete 360 and not get hit or hit a wall? And this time right in front of the entire pack in the first turn of the race.
FERRARI: Upgrades helped. But script remained similar -- long race pace is still off.
COLAPINTO: Give credit where credit is due. Franco had an excellent weekend.
GASLY: Went for a wild ride.
WILLIAMS: They did improve, but they never should have been on the back foot to start with.
HAAS: No upgrades. No points. They will be bringing them to Montreal.
ASTON MARTIN: Well, both cars did finish. So, there's that...
CADILLAC: ...but the newbies were racing Aston Martin on merit.
AUDI: Reliability still a serious issue.
HADJAR: Self inflicted wound.
ZANARDI: You'll be hard pressed to find a more inspirational person than Alex. Always with a smile and willing to take on a challenge after an horrific crash. Champion in multiple categories. A hero and role model for the ages. And of course, donuts and The Pass. He'll be missed.
F2: The sprint race saw a thrilling back and forth battle between the top two and more, with Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov finally coming out on top. A wild, wild last few laps on the wet to drying track for the feature race saw extended side-by-side racing and multiple lead changes. Italian Gabriele Minì got the win.
WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Tweaks.
STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 3 -- Kimi Antonelli becomes the first driver to take his first three career wins all from pole position. He also became the third Italian to win three races in the same season (Giuseppe Farina in 1950 and Alberto Ascari in 1953).
HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: The longest gap in a Formula 1 season once it got underway was in 1965 (not counting the abortive start in 2020 due to the pandemic). That year, the South African GP (at the old Prince George Circuit in East London) moved from being the season closer in late December to the season opener the first day of January. Then, the season didn't pick up again until Monaco (which often would kick off a season for many years) on May 30, a 21-week gap. The remaining nine races of the 10-race schedule were completed within the next 21 weeks. Two other years were similar when the race moved to Kyalami, but with slightly shorter gaps. January 2 to May 7 in 1967 and January 1 to May 12 for the Spanish GP in 1968.
TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: From @ClbPurpleSector:
Antonelli didn’t have the easiest race
Lost track position early
Won it back on strategy
Held off Norris under pressure
That is championship driving
#F1 #Formula1 #MiamiGP
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Charles Leclerc was not happy with his team's communcations, "Next time you make a big decision, speak with me first..."
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Max Verstappen on yet again escaping unscathed after a 360 spin, "If F1 doesn't work out, I could always go rallying."
SCHEDULE: We come to the most controversial portion of the schedule. The end of the Greatest Day in Racing as Monaco was moved off the Indy 500 date. Instead, we get a nonstop afternoon/evening of racing, with Indy immediately followed by Montreal immediately followed by Charlotte. Good luck finding a bathroom break...
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