Wet race and new rules: Verstappen and Hamilton know how to do it

A first time Seven and four World titles respectively are not won by chance and this afternoon, in Miami, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen could have yet another great opportunity to show all their qualities in front of the world. In fact, what is expected in Florida is the first wet race of this new technical regulation. A significant unknown, which increases curiosity about what we will be able to see on the track. But the two champions have already gone through a similar situation: in fact they are the ones who have won on the last two occasions in which a wet GP was held for the first time in a new regulation cycle. The experience of Lewis and Max Verstappen prevailed at Imola in the 2022 Emilia-Romagna GP in what was the fourth race of the regulatory cycle for ground-effect cars (just as this is the fourth race of the new technical regulations…), imposing itself in ‘mixed’ conditions, with the first part of the race held on a wet track and with intermediate tires and the second half characterized by an asphalt that was gradually drying out but was still treacherous, with well remembers Charles Leclerc who threw away the podium by spinning out at the Variante Alta while he was in third place and then crossed the finish line only in seventh place. Hamilton certainly doesn’t have a good memory of that race, seeing as he finished 13th and lapped under the checkered flag. But the Englishman had won at the wheel of Mercedes in Singapore in 2017, in what was the first wet night race in the history of F1 as well as the first race held in the rain in the era of ‘extra-large’ cars and with ‘oversized’ tires which had been introduced that year. That GP also remained in the memory of the fans due to the huge accident at the start which involved the two Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and Verstappen’s Red Bull, opening the way for the #44 who won starting from fifth position on the grid. Today in Miami, taking advantage of the rain, one of them could write another, yet another chapter of their legend.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News
2026-05-03 18:59:00