Miami Grand Prix: Race Preview

The Miami Grand Prix joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2022 and proved an instant hit, with the Hard Rock Campus – home to the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins – transformed into a world-class Formula 1 venue. The Miami International Autodrome navigates its way around the Hard Rock Campus, with the pit lane and paddock complex nestled in the shadow of the 65,000-seater stadium – which will be used for this year’s FIFA World Cup – while the popular F1 Village is located on the pitch itself.

The 3.3-mile Miami International Circuit features a breadth of corner types, and has a couple of lengthy full-throttle sections, prime for promoting wheel-to-wheel combat. However, the tricky off-camber sections, proximity of the walls, and off-line lack of grip due to its infrequent use through the year adds to the challenge for drivers. For the third successive season, drivers will have just one practice session in which to get up to speed – an extended 90 minutes in Miami – as the event will again host the F1 Sprint, giving drivers and teams two opportunities to race around one of Formula 1’s newest venues.

After an extended spring hiatus, TGR Haas F1 Team enters the Miami Grand Prix in fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship, on 18 points, having secured a top 10 finish at every race so far in 2026.

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“While we’ve all missed the thrill of competition, the time away we’ve had since the Japanese Grand Prix has been well spent across our many team operations. We’ve enjoyed some fantastic fan and partner engagement opportunities with the drivers – events that ordinarily we wouldn’t have been able to commit to during a regular start to a season. To see the support that’s out there for the team has been amazing, especially as we head into our first home race of the season in the United States.

“On the technical side, we’ve deepened our understanding of the VF-26 following the first three races – we’ve obviously had more time to analyze our data from those races and continued to look to further improve reliability and ultimately our vehicle performance. We head to Miami keen to build on the points-scoring performances we’ve earned at each round so far, but we believe there’s more to unlock and we had some good momentum going before the break – which has been anything but a break in reality. Finally, it’s a Sprint weekend, which always brings time pressures and challenges – but it’s the same for everyone. The positive thing is we’re back racing and we always enjoy our time in Miami, we can’t wait to get going.”

Ollie Bearman:

“I’m very excited to come back to racing, it’s been a long break and Miami is a fun track. We have a Sprint weekend which is still a big challenge for us with these new regulations. We’re figuring out new things every session so I’m excited to go and explore the nuances and the challenges of Miami. Hopefully we can continue our good start to the year and everyone will be replenished and ready to push again.”

Esteban Ocon:

“Miami is probably the first race this year which is going to be very warm and humid, so this is something we haven’t figured out with the new cars yet. Obviously, it’s a Sprint event so quick learning is going to be required. We’ve done a lot of work in the simulator beforehand to try and get the deployment right, but there are things you’ll find out in FP1 if you have a clean session, so that will be the aim. The car has performed quite well in the first couple of events, so we’re looking to have a good weekend and hopefully get some points for the team.”