Formula 1 Set to Relaunch in Miami After Five-Week Hiatus

by Roy Brindley, 30 April 2026

Formula 1 returns this weekend after a five-week hiatus. With rule changes, development and potential storms, surely punters cannot rely on early-season form.

Kimi Antonelli leads the World Championship standings, but will his car still be dominant after F1’s full reset? © Getty Images

Key Facts:

• The fifth edition of the Miami Grand Prix takes place this weekend.
• Cars are predicted to be very different to those that raced earlier in the season.
• Thunderstorms and rule changes further cloud the Miami Grand Prix picture.
• Course form indicates there could be a runaway winner.

The war in the Middle East led to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and Formula 1 has endured a five-week break. But now, the sport is back, and the action will restart this weekend in Florida with the fifth edition of the Miami Grand Prix.

Commentators and team bosses are describing the resumption of racing as a “relaunch” rather than a “restart”. Days ago, Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle declared, “teams are going to turn up with dramatically changed and hopefully improved cars.”

Unlike Formula 1’s summer break – when factories must completely shut down for two weeks – during the past month, all 11 F1 teams have been free to work uninterrupted on their 2026 cars. With development normally rapid, who knows what fans are likely to witness this weekend?

With Formula 1’s official website running a “McLaren are set to deliver a ‘completely new car’ for Miami and Canadian Grands Prix” headline to a story that quotes McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella, it is clear the early 2026 season form could now be worthless.

To further cloud the picture, the sport has recently tweaked and refined its regulations with the principal aim of reducing battery micromanagement. Everything considered, if there is a double-digit priced winner of an F1 race this season, Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix is likely to produce it.

The Story So Far

To date, Mercedes has been the dominant force. Its drivers, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, have won all three 2026 races during a season that began with a radical overhaul of car design regulations.

Ferrari, with three podium finishes, sat second in the pecking order. McLaren appeared to have the third-best package on the grid despite its driver, Oscar Piastri, failing to finish twice but taking a silver medal in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Ahead of practice, bookmakers are using this form to set their prices. Indeed, the UK’s best online betting sites quote Antonelli and Russell as the 6/4 joint favourites in the race winner market and also in the short-format ‘Sprint’ contest taking place on Saturday.

A dream realized at the #MiamiGP 💭 pic.twitter.com/toeB2Yq7eZ

— F1 Miami Grand Prix (@f1miami) March 18, 2026

Will Miami 2026 Be More Racy?

In 2024, Miami’s Sprint race was a non-event, with the drivers sitting first through sixth on the grid, finishing in their starting positions. This is a theme at the purpose-built Miami International Autodrome, which circles the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium. Racing has traditionally been processional.

Additionally, the action has been unspectacular. Cars and drivers – despite the first three editions of this contest featuring a Safety Car and 2025’s race needing two Virtual Safety Cars – have regularly finished well strung out.

Theoretically, the 2026 regulations should lessen the likelihood of races being punctuated by yawning gaps. It is what they were introduced to do. However, Kimi Antonelli won the most recent race, the Japanese Grand Prix, by almost 14 seconds.

With the Imponderables, Going Large Is the Play

Bookmakers, including Formula 1’s official betting operator, accept bets on F1 race winning margins. This weekend, those firms make an ‘under five seconds’ scenario the 4/6 favourite. A gap between five and 10 seconds is priced on 9/4 odds, while 10 seconds or more earns a 4/1 quote.

With so many imponderables at play this weekend – including potential thunderstorms with heavy rain – the likelihood of a ‘lonely winner’ (10 seconds-plus) is surely greater than the 20% the 4/1 odds suggest. It therefore rates as a banker bet in a contest where little should be taken for granted.