F1 2026: Miami Grand Prix Preview and Predictions

After a break of over a month, Formula One will return to racing this weekend as the grid moves to the United States of America for the Miami Grand Prix 2026. Mercedes have put their foot down and cemented themselves as the clear title favourites with young Kimi Antonelli sitting at the top of the Drivers’ Championships with his teammate George Russell playing catch up. While there are plenty of storylines at play as racing resumes, a lot of eyes will be on Red Bull given the changes announcement in their garage and also how reigning Constructors’ champions McLaren respond after a slow start. 

For the 2026 F1 Miami Grand Prix, here we present our preview and predictions.

McLaren in the hunt

After starting the season in a relatively uncompetitive manner, which sees reigning Constructors’ Champions, McLaren, sit in third place in the championship standings and almost 100 points behind Mercedes, the British team have brought new upgrades to Miami with the team stating that they will bring a ‘new car’ post a month’s break. 

McLaren have been plagued by issues, with Oscar Piastri not starting the season opener in Melbourne and both cars not starting the Chinese Grand Prix. McLaren did end up finding some performance as Oscar Piastri took the fight to the Mercedeses, with the Australian qualifying in third place and finished a commendable second ahead of the Ferraris and George Russell’s Mercedes. McLaren are expected to have made some movement with regards to their power unit and expect McLaren to fight back in Miami and be in the mix for the win with the likes of Mercedes and Ferraris. Given that racing will resume with a Sprint weekend, McLaren will have more chances to reduce that gap to Mercedes with more scoring points on offer.

Pole prediction: George Russell / Lando Norris

Race winners prediction: Mercedes / McLaren

A break for good?

Sometimes a break is good and one team who desperately needed that break was Aston Martin. The British Formula One team is one of the two teams who are yet to score points this season after three races and reliability issues have hit the team hard. In the three races that have taken places Fernando Alonso finishing P18 was the first time an Aston Martin race car saw the chequered flag this season as technical issues have plagued the team.

Aston Martin and their power unit partner Honda have worked on the reliability issues through this month-long break and will be fielding a new package in Miami. While expecting Aston Martin to shoot up the field and to the top of the midfield will be a daft move, Aston Martin should be putting in a much better show in Miami and expect the British car to have both cars make the chequered flag in Miami.

Red Bull’s shakeup

While teams have used this month-long break to recharge their batteries and look to find some good form to build on, there has been one team who have been going through a short period of turmoil. Red Bull Racing have had a hectic period where their team has seen some big changes. Amongst the biggest change is quadruple world champion Max Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, announcing that he will leave the team in 2028 and head to rivals McLaren. If that wasn’t a big shakeup in their team, Red Bull also made changes in the technical leadership group, swapping in and out some roles signaling a clear shift of dynamics at the Red Bull camp. Things clearly aren’t comfortable and stable in the Austrian team’s camp and it remains to be seen how much of an effect it will have on their on-track performances.

The Austrian team is going through a nervy period and given that they don’t have the fastest car or even a challenger behind them on track, things will be trickier for Verstappen and co.

F1 Miami Grand Prix 2026: Race details

Circuit: Miami International Autodrome

Venue: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida, U.S.A

Practice Session 1 time: 22:00 IST, May 1, 2026

Sprint Qualifying time: 02:00 IST, May 2, 2026

Sprint time: 21:30 IST, May 2, 2026

Qualifying time: 01:30 IST, May 3, 2026

Main race time: 01:30 IST, May 4, 2026

Where to watch: F1 TV Pro / FanCode