With FP1 for the 2026 F1 Miami GP completed, view the full report here for the only practice session of the weekend, extended to a 90-minute session.
Car upgrades ahead of 2026 F1 Miami GP FP1
Before the session started, the FIA released its usual car presentation document for the weekend, in which the teams disclose all the main upgrades to their car compared to the last event in Suzuka.
Notably, McLaren brought a major revision to its MCL40 ahead of the Miami GP, with upgrades pretty much front-to-back, as Andrea Stella pointed out.
Red Bull and Ferrari are also bringing significant upgrades to their cars, leaving only Mercedes of the top four teams that aren’t bringing any major revisions this time out, and will instead wait for the Canadian GP at the end of the month.
Elsewhere, Williams, Alpine and Cadillac will all carry some significant updates on their machinery. Haas brought some minor revisions to their car, along with Audi, whilst Aston Martin is the only team that reported to have no upgrades whatsoever.
Albon first on track for F1 2026 Miami GP FP1
Williams’ Alex Albon was the first to venture out onto the circuit for the 90-minute session, with several drivers following suit in order to maximize track time in the Sprint weekend.
Lando Norris set the early pace in the first five minutes, with a time of a 1:31.941 in the heavily upgraded McLaren, ahead of Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton and Hadjar.
The times quickly started to tumble, as Leclerc and then Verstappen briefly went fastest, before Norris smashed the time with a 1:30.688, a full second quicker than the previous two – with all drivers bar the medium-shod Cadillac pair of Perez and Bottas, on the hard tyres.
Reliability troubles early on for Aston Martin, Russell and Gasly
With 13 minutes of the session gone, Pierre Gasly reported a strange smell inside the cockpit of his Alpine A526, to which the team reported to be investigating.
Just a few moments later, George Russell reported back to his Mercedes team to “check turbo”, as it was making “strange noises”, comparing it to a “steam train” and even making his best impression of a train noise.
Aston Martin’s rotten start to the 2026 F1 season continued at FP1 for the Miami GP, with reliability issues with the Honda power unit meaning neither Alonso or Stroll made it to the circuit in time to enjoy most of the extra 30-minutes of running.
Norris setting the early pace in upgraded McLaren
Lando Norris further improved his time at the top to a 1:30.335, leaving him over half-a-second ahead of his nearest competition from Hamilton’s Ferrari.
With 23 minutes of the session completed, championship leader Kimi Antonelli restored the usual form of the 2026 season, putting his Mercedes at the front of the pack with a 1:30.079 on the hard tyres.
Max Verstappen was the first of the front-runners to try the medium tyres, but didn’t find much time from it on his first lap, which left him fourth fastest and nearly four tenths off Antonelli’s time.
On the other side of the Mercedes garage, all was not well for George Russell, as his earlier turbo issues continued to hold him back, leaving him a whopping 1.5s back from his team-mate at the half-hour mark of the session.
The Briton continued to struggle, locking up at the final corner in his next lap and ending up still a second back from Antonelli.
Antonelli leads Norris and Leclerc at the 40-minute mark; Russell in the pits
Norris managed to further improve his time on the hard tyres, sitting at just 0.129s back from Antonelli’s earlier benchmark, with Charles Leclerc just four hundredths of a second further back at the 40-minute mark.
Ferrari to the fore at the halfway point
Charles Leclerc took the top spot as the session reached its halfway mark, setting the first sub-1:30 laptime of the weekend, with a 1:29.855 taking him over two tenths clear of Antonelli, with his team-mate Hamilton a further tenth of a second back.
Norris, Verstappen, Piastri, Russell, Colapinto, Hadjar and Hülkënberg completed the top ten at the 45-minute mark.
Aston Martin first to try the soft tyres
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were the first drivers to try the soft tyres, with the Canadian setting a time good enough for 18th place, over 3.5s off Leclerc’s earlier time. Alonso didn’t improve in his first lap, staying 22nd and over 4.8s off the pace, before finding a lap and moving up to 18th, just ahead of Stroll.
Red Bull struggling with downshifts; Piastri reports brake smoke
Max Verstappen usually struggles with his downshifts on a Friday, but this time around his sentiment was also echoed by team-mate Isack Hadjar, just as the session approached its one-hour mark.
With just 30 minutes remaining, Leclerc led Antonelli, Hamilton, Norris and Verstappen.
Piastri, Russell, Gasly, Colapinto and Hadjar rounded out the top 10, before any soft tyres, qualifying simulation runs started.
With just 18 minutes of the session remaining, Oscar Piastri reported some smoke in his cockpit, indicating it might be from the brakes in his McLaren.
Carlos Sainz reported a similar issue to George Russell, with “weird” noses from the turbo of his Mercedes-powered Williams.
Russell first of the front runners on soft tyres; Antonelli out of the session
George Russell was the first of the front runners to run the soft tyres in anger, and immediately jumped up to the thrid in the timesheets, but his lap was compromised by a lock-up at the final corner.
Max Verstappen then took the top spot, before being swiftly replaced by the rapid Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who set a 1:29.443, a third of a second quicker than the four-time champion, with Oscar Piastri just behind in the McLaren.
Lewis Hamilton was in a good lap, but also locked up at the final corner and ended up also a third of a second back from Leclerc, and just 0.001s behind his old rival Verstappen.
Lando Norris was on a flyer, but also found trouble in the final corner; a slow moving Alex Albon meant the Briton had to miss the apex to avoid the Williams.
Kimi Antonelli missed the end of the session after Mercedes found an issue on his power unit and didn’t have enough time to fix it for the Italian to get a soft tyre run in.
Leclerc further improved his time at the top, setting a 1:29.310, which put him nearly three tenths ahead of Verstappen in P2.
Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli, despite his issue, completed the top five.
Unusually, Russell’s Mercedes didn’t find its way to the top, with the Briton’s soft tyre run leaving him a lowly sixth on the times, a whopping eight tenths back from Leclerc’s benchmark.
Norris looked rapid all session long, but his missed opportunity on the soft tyres meant he ended up seventh fastest, ahead of Gasly, Hadjar and Sainz.
Full results from FP1 at the 2026 F1 Miami GP here.
