GP Miami, official: the FIA ​​”extends” FP1, cars on track for 90 (and not 60) minutes

The news of the Miami GP The first free practices of the new-new era of Formula 1 will last a little longer. This was announced by the International Automobile Federation itself, which has decided to extend the duration of the first and only test session of the Miami GP weekend: the FP1 on the circuit that revolves around the Hard Rock Stadium will in fact last 90 minutes and not 60, taking us back to the 2020 season, the last in which the free practice sessions on Friday lasted an hour and a half as per regulation. Between Sprint format and technical innovations The choice is obviously made also and above all due to the particular nature of the weekend which sees the return of Formula 1 in Florida as well as the first of the three US weekends on the calendar: for the second time in the season after Shanghai, the Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon and the Sprint Race on Saturday morning (local) will return, with the consequence that there will be much less time for the teams to test the regulatory innovations approved with the vote of the team principals last Monday on the track. Furthermore, the weekend of the Miami GP will also be a crucial weekend as regards the technical and aerodynamic developments on the single-seaters of practically all 11 teams involved in the World Championship, which after more than a month’s stop – caused by the cancellation of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia – should return to the track with many new features and therefore significantly different from those we last saw in motion in Suzuka. Unique experiment (for now) For the moment, however, this is a one-off solution and not a fixed rule to be repeated every weekend with the F1 Sprint format: the novelty of the 90-minute FP1 is in fact so far only relevant for the next race but not also for the one in Montreal, the following weekend which however still includes qualifying and a sprint race. In the Miami GP, free practice 1 will begin at 6.00 pm Italian time (12.00 pm local time) and no longer at 6.30 pm as initially planned.