The 2026 Formula 1 season resumes this weekend, as the series makes its first of three visits to the United States of America, beginning with the Miami Grand Prix.
A recent addition to the calendar, the circuit around the Miami Dolphins' NFL stadium marks the fourth round of the 2026 season and the first race in five weeks.
The war in Iran forced F1 to cancel the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, meaning no racing took place in April. However, this offered the 11 teams plenty of time to work on car development.
More significantly, this weekend's Miami Grand Prix will see the debut of new engine regulations aimed at improving the qualifying spectacle, as well as safety, following the scary shunt for Ollie Bearman at the Japanese Grand Prix.
As a result, FP1 on Friday has been extended to 90 minutes to allow the teams extra time to understand the new energy deployment regulations.
But that will represent the only practice for the weekend, with sprint qualifying following later on Friday, with the sprint itself on Saturday morning and then qualifying for the main race on Sunday.
Mercedes' dominant start to the new campaign sees it come to Miami with a target on its back, as its rivals look to close the gap to the championship leader.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli also leads the drivers' standings, following back-to-back wins in China and Japan, opening up an intriguing intra-team dynamic between himself and George Russell coming into the Miami Grand Prix.
Ferrari has brought a raft of updates to its car as it looks to continue its strong start to the campaign, as well as close down the performance gap to Mercedes.
2026 Miami Grand Prix Friday schedule
FP1: 5pm BST - 6:30pm BST
Sprint qualifying: 9:30pm BST - 10:14pm BST
Aston Martin has denied speculation it is aiming at a major 'B-spec' car update for the Belgian Grand Prix
That's all for the track action until 9:30pm BST.
But keep your eyes fixed on Crash.net and the live blog for all the latest news between now and sprint qualifying.
Charles Leclerc sets impressive pace for Ferrari, as Mercedes hit early trouble in Miami.
Full results from Friday at the 2026 F1 Miami Grand Prix
The chequered flag is out.
Charles Leclerc and Ferrari lead the way in FP1 from Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.
Mercedes, for the moment, looks to be on the back foot heading into sprint qualifying.
Full results to follow...
Leclerc improves to a 1m29.310s.
Verstappen improves to second on a 1m29.607s after a second lap.
Albon might face the stewards after this session, as he was running very slowly on the racing line while on an outlap by the looks of it.
Kimi Antonelli's session has been ended by a power unit issue.
Oh dear. Norris almost ran into the back of Albon into Turn 17.
Antonelli has jumped out of his car. So, no soft tyre run for him with just over six minutes to go.
Hamilton's lap was messy, but he moves up to third with a 1m29.777s.
Leclerc retakes top spot, though, with a 1m29.443s despite going deep into Turn 17. Verstappen second, Piastri now third.
Verstappen goes top with a 1m29.776s.
Russell crosses the line and sets a 1m30.100, but he made a mistake at Turn 17.
Hamilton is undergoing a front suspension tweak as he's not super happy with what he has currently set-up-wise.
Verstappen is also out on soft tyres. Hadjar, Leclerc follow him.
George Russell is out on soft rubber.
Standings with 15 minutes to go:
Carlos Sainz, another Mercedes engine user, is complaining about noise from the power unit now: "There's a lot of noises coming from the turbo."
Oscar Piastri says over the McLaren team radio: "I have some smoke in the cockpit, which smells like brake smoke."
Bottas has just completed a flying lap on softs in the Cadillac, improving to a 1m33.278s. That keeps him 20th for now.
Still firmly in the race running phase for most, but with just under 25 minutes to go, we should hopefully getting some soft tyre time attacks soon.
Standings after one hour:
Perez is another driver to get baulked by an Aston on the way into Turn 11.