The FIA will allow Formula 1 drivers additional on-track time at the Miami Grand Prix after recent rule changes reduced practice opportunities on sprint weekends.
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The single practice session will be extended from 60 minutes to 90 minutes and will now start at noon local time.
“This decision has been taken in recognition of the gap since the last grand prix, the recently announced regulatory and technical adjustments, and the fact that as the Miami Grand Prix operates under the Sprint format which reduces the amount of practice time available over the course of the weekend,” the FIA said in a statement.
The opening practice session, scheduled for one week from tomorrow, will be the first official F1 track session since the Japanese Grand Prix ended on March 29. Races planned earlier this month in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were cancelled because of the conflict in Iran and related regional disruption and were not replaced, creating a longer break between events.
Several teams have used filming days or Pirelli testing opportunities during April to run their cars, including Mercedes, McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Alpine.
On Monday, F1 announced a set of technical regulation changes aimed at addressing safety concerns around high closing speeds between cars and at improving car behaviour in qualifying. Most of the changes are intended to take effect at the next race, though the FIA plans to evaluate adjustments to cars’ starting systems — measures intended to prevent very slow starts — and introduce those at a later date.
The next event after Miami is the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, held three weeks later, which also follows the sprint format.
Sprint weekends have previously reduced available practice time, creating issues for the championship. In 2023, F1 added an extra practice session at the sprint round in Qatar after tyre problems emerged following the only planned practice session.
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