Miami, the threat of rain remains for the GP: FIA imposes the Rain Hazard protocol. Here’s what changes

Rain threatens the Miami GP The updated rules and technical developments brought to the track by almost all the teams have so far given us a Miami GP weekend with a surprising performance picture. In a weekend with results that arouse amazement – at least compared to the first three races of the season – there is, however, one forecast that remains immutable, and that is the weather: almost catastrophic announcements have been made since Wednesday linked to the conditions of the track, which could be flooded by a strong storm that is said to hit Florida on Sunday, coinciding with the fourth GP of the 2026 Formula 1 season. A forecast now also officially confirmed by the International Federation, which for the first time in history the protocol linked to the new “Rain Hazard” rule (literally translated into “rain danger”) has been activated. What is the Rain Hazard protocol The innovation, approved at the beginning of this championship, provides teams with the possibility of derogating, but only in part, from the parc fermé regime, at least in all those cases in which the FIA ​​Race Direction declares before qualifying (or Sprint Qualifying) a “Rain Hazard” situation for the race (or for the Sprint Race). A declaration which is however at the total discretion of the race director (currently the Portuguese Rui Marques) in the event that a risk of more than 40% is foreseen, based on the forecasts of the official Meteo France service, of having to run a race in the wet. This is precisely the case in Miami: the meteorological threat persists, with showers of rain expected in the morning, before a storm in the mid-afternoon of Sunday 3 May, precisely at the time when the GP should take place, the start of which is scheduled for 4.00 pm local time. The possible (limited) interventions of the teams on the setup However, it is not yet 100% clear what Rain Hazard’s declaration by the FIA ​​actually entails, and this is because all the components that can be modified by the teams after qualifying and in view of the race are only explained in a confidential document between the Federation and the teams. According to Jon Noble’s reconstruction on the specialist website The Race, however, it would not be a real cancellation of the parc fermé regime, but the concession of two types of interventions on the cars, to adapt the settings to the rain without distorting the setup established by the engineers: what should in fact change mainly be the height from the ground and then also the incidence of the mobile front wing, which in case of rain can still be opened on the straights, unlike the rear one which by regulation must remain closed. The decision to provide for possible changes to the parc fermé regime through the Rain Hazard protocol would have been taken more than anything else to avoid too many disqualifications in the event of a wet race after a dry qualifying: the fact that the mobile wings remain partly closed for safety reasons means that the cars are subjected to greater vertical loads on the straight (even with lower top speeds) which could lead to much more marked wear of the plank and lead to many disqualifications at the end of the race. Precisely for this reason, the possibility of opening the mobile wing only on the front even on a wet track was initially envisaged, and then also the Rain Hazard mode to change the height from the ground (and little else). GP Miami: does the starting time change? According to what was reported by Sky UK, an emergency meeting of F1 leaders is also scheduled after qualifying to decide whether to bring forward Sunday’s race by a few hours, avoiding the moment of greatest intensity of rain. The start of the 2026 Miami Formula 1 GP is currently still scheduled for 10pm Italian time.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News
2026-05-03 05:00:00