F1 Miami Grand Prix at risk of chaos after weather warning

Miami Grand Prix

Miami Grand Prix at risk of chaos after weather warning

F1 returns this weekend

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 27 April 2026 17:57

F1 returns this weekend with the Miami Grand Prix, and we could be in for an enthralling race.

The Miami International Autodrome will host an F1 race for the fifth time, as the 2026 season restarts after an unplanned five-week break.

There has not been an F1 race since the end of March, after the Saudi Arabian and Bahrain Grands Prix were cancelled due to the war in the Middle East.

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It has led F1 legend Martin Brundle to describe the upcoming Miami GP as 'one of the biggest relaunches in the history of Formula 1', particularly considering the FIA have made some tweaks to the regulations during this five-week break.

And as we all look forward to seeing which teams have made progress during the spring break, there is a weather front which might just spice up the sprint race weekend even more.

Sunday's Miami GP has a lights out time of 4pm local time (9pm BST), and there is currently a 46 per cent chance of rain for lights out, only increasing as the afternoon progresses.

Friday and Saturday are set to be dry for the teams and drivers, but we will see highs of 33 degrees Celsius on both days, and humidity levels of around 50 per cent.

With the new regulations, enhanced overtaking in 2026 and rain thrown into the mix, Sunday's race is all set to be a cracker.

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When does the Miami GP weekend start?

The event at the Miami International Autodrome is a sprint race weekend, meaning the action gets underway on Friday May 1 with FP1 and sprint race qualifying.

Below is the F1 schedule and session details for the entire race weekend in local Eastern Time, UK BST or Pacific Time if you are watching on the West Coast.

There is already a change to the original planned schedule, with F1 confirming that Free Practice 1 on Friday will now last for 90 minutes, instead of the original 60.

Session	Date	Local time (ET)	UK time (BST)	Pacific time (PT)
Practice 1 (FP1)	Friday May 1	12:00-13:30	17:00-18:30	09:00-10:30
Sprint Qualifying	Friday May 1	16:30-17:14	21:30-22:14	13:30-14:14
Sprint	Saturday May 2	12:00-13:00	17:00-18:00	09:00-10:00
Qualifying	Saturday May 2	16:00-17:00	21:00-22:00	13:00-14:00
Grand Prix (57 laps)	Sunday May 3	16:00-18:00	21:00-23:00	13:00-15:00