The start time of the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday could be moved up because of the risk of severe thunderstorms, top drivers said at a news conference on Thursday, where they also welcomed safety-based rule tweaks but warned more change is needed.
Mexican driver Sergio Perez of the new American Cadillac team said he understood that the forecast was “looking really bad” and that emergency changes were being considered.
Some local forecasters predicted there was an 85% chance of heavy thunderstorms hitting the Miami International Autodrome on Sunday afternoon when the race is scheduled to start at 16:00 local time (20:00 GMT).
“There is a meeting later on with the FIA to double-check the scenario for Sunday because apparently it’s looking really bad,” said Perez. “We’ll see if there are any changes on the schedule for the weekend.”
There’s precedent for such a schedule change. The 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix was rescheduled for an earlier start to avoid heavy storms forecast for later in the day.
Last year’s Miami sprint race was delayed by heavy rain and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed his car during a pre-race installation lap in worsening conditions.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri warned that few of the drivers had any experience driving this year’s new era hybrid cars in wet conditions.
“I don’t think many of us have driven these cars in the rain before,” he said. “Maybe a couple of people did in Barcelona at the shakedown, but I think they’re going to be challenging cars to drive in the rain just because of some of the quirks that they have.
“And, obviously, normally if it rains in Miami it does it properly. So we’ll have to wait and see. It’ll be interesting one way or another.”
At the same news conference, most drivers said changes made to the levels of super-clipping and battery power harvesting would reduce dangers, but have little overall effect on the spectacle in the sport’s new hybrid era.
While Aston Martin’s Canadian driver Lance Stroll lambasted the new formula as “fundamentally flawed” and a thousand times less fun than Formula Three, others took a more positive approach.
“The positive thing is that we had some nice meetings with F1 and the FIA and I think that’s probably a starting point for the future even if there is time for that or maybe I’m not here anymore,” said four-time champion Max Verstappen, who has struggled this season.
Verstappen had been a leading critic of this season’s changes, accusing F1 of losing its identity and suggested that he was contemplating his future if the sport did not take action to salvage its heritage as an all-out test of power and speed for drivers and machines.
“I really hope that the driver have more input to the organisers in general because most drivers have a good understanding and a good feel of what is needed to make F1 a good product, a fun product,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s a very complex and political sport, but at least I think everyone has tried their best to do something, but, of course, it won’t change the world.”
The conflict has stemmed from this year’s introduction of the 50-50 split between use of battery power and traditional engine power in an attempt to create a greener sport.
Many drivers feel the sport needs more naturally aspirated power from an engine and less from the battery.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg. “I’m curious to see how it feels and works on track now.”
Piastri said the collaboration had produced good changes, but added that he felt the chief problems could not be fixed without a fundamental overhaul of the hardware of the power units.
He said it was good that the rules had been tweaked to reduce the huge imbalance in performance and speed between cars that are using maximum power and those slowing to harvest and store battery power.
A crash in Japan involving Oliver Bearman of Haas, who escaped serious injury left many drivers worried about similar future accidents.
“After Olly’s crash, something needed to change and it is good that they listened to us,” said Piastri. “The tweaks are good, and sensible and well thought out so it is a positive thing, but let’s wait and see how it pans out from a safety point of view.”
Many drivers and observers had criticised the formula for producing artificial racing controlled by computers and the needs for management of battery power.
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