The FIA has extended the opening practice session to 90 minutes ahead of the May 3 Miami race, part of a Sprint weekend format.
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Formula 1 will return from a five-week hiatus with the Miami Grand Prix on May 3, following the cancellation of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The event will take place at the circuit surrounding Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
The weekend will follow a Sprint format, which typically includes only one free practice session. However, the FIA has extended the opening practice session, FP1, to 90 minutes instead of the standard 60 minutes. The extended duration was officially announced by the FIA during the race weekend and was approved by teams at a meeting with the federation on Monday.
The extended practice time comes as teams adapt to regulatory modifications approved during that same meeting. The changes relate to energy management systems, and the additional session time will allow teams to test and develop their setups under the new rules before qualifying and the Sprint race.
The Miami race marks the sixth round of the 2026 calendar, which has been reduced to 22 events following the cancellations in the Middle East. The season resumes after the Japanese Grand Prix, where Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli secured victory. Antonelli currently leads the drivers' championship with 72 points, nine ahead of his Mercedes teammate.
Ahead of Miami, the FIA has also implemented a technical restriction affecting qualifying procedures. The federation has banned a method previously used by Mercedes and Red Bull to maximize power output from the MGU-K electrical system on the final straight during qualifying laps. Under the regulations, electrical power assistance must be reduced linearly by 50 kilowatts per second on straights. Mercedes and Red Bull had employed a workaround to maintain maximum electrical power on the final straight during qualifying in Australia and Japan, which the FIA has now prohibited.
Ferrari has indicated that the technical restriction, combined with power unit evolution, may allow the Maranello team to narrow the performance gap to Mercedes at Miami.
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