Parc Ferme: Formula 1’s wet weather ‘save’ in Miami

The Grand Prix was as much about the continuation of the racing, as it was a reset and test for most of the supposed PU solutions signed off earlier in the month. Whilst the latter was an easy objective to achieve, the former proved to be more challenging.

One component of the PU medicine package omitted was the Race Start Assistance (or assistant, depending on your view). A system where if a driver bogs down, he can get limited help from the MGU-K. This was tested over the weekend but is not expected to appear until later in the year, possibly in Barcelona.

Meanwhile, the various new interventions designed to both limit and boost power as deemed appropriate, were all in place.

F1’s 'powers that be' continued to trumpet the success of the new regulations. However, that noise tapered off with the news that a very wet race was going to be a certainty.

Such was the concern over the weather's impact that the start time for the Grand Prix was moved to avoid the worst of the inclement weather. The point of concern here was not cars cutting out, but their driveability in such low-grip conditions.

The electric engine component produces a brutal torque kick (as long as it’s charged of course), across the rev range when engaged. Since most of the drivers had no experience with this, combined with very low grip conditions, it was felt that an F1 car 'train wreck' was likely.

This felt like an indictment of the drivers, the tyres, the regulations, and forward planning. There are already two other races where the PU regs have to be modified to cope with this regulatory folly – Monaco and Singapore.

The question now is how many others will follow?

Over and above the wet weather embarrassment, and contrary to F1 tradition, the 2026 Miami pole sitter, Kimi Antonelli, was 1.6 seconds slower than Max Verstappen’s 2025 fastest qualification lap.

The cars were also still running out of guff at the end of the straights, and the algorithms still dominated the yo-yo racing.

Toto Wolff was quoted as saying that anyone complaining “should hide”. Tell that to the drivers who, apart from his own, seemed to disagree unequivocally on that matter.  

However, maybe Toto was referring to the F2 racing that supported the weekend. In this instance, Parc Ferme would concur!

Those races were nothing short of spectacular, with three-way, last-lap, last-corner tussles from the front to the midfield. All this was conducted in wet/dry conditions, oh, and with non-hybrid single turbo V6s.

One glimmer of hope is that all this mess seems to have resulted in some kind of sanity. We may have to wait a few years, but normally aspirated V8S are back on the F1 table.

As mentioned in Parc Ferme's Formula 1 golf kart moment a few weeks back, this was a proposal championed by the FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Unfortunately, his suggestion was then gagged, hooded, and then bundled off in a black Escalade to an FOM ‘black site’.

However, it looks like that smart idea has managed to escape! Again!