As the Formula 1 season resumes at the Miami Grand Prix, teams have brought a raft of upgrades to move them up the competitive order.
The enforced break between Japan and the F1 Miami GP has allowed teams to refine their original 2026 car designs, in an attempt to improve their on track-fortunes.
Common consensus was that teams could effectively redesign their cars using the lessons learned during the opening three races, which has proven to be the case at the front of the grid.
Ferrari has led the way, bringing a mammoth 11 upgrades to the F1 Miami GP for the SF-26. These range from front wing endplate vanes to a reprofiled diffuser, upwashing volumes” on the rear wing endplate to maximise drag shedding on straights, a new engine cover and the Macarena rear wing.
McLaren has brought the next biggest amount of upgrades, with seven new parts on the car, with an air of confidence after its strong performance in Japan. These include a completely new floor and board geometry, a revised rear wing for increased efficiency, and circuit-specific sidepod louvres to handle Miami’s high cooling demands.
Red Bull, the team with arguably the most ground to make up after its disastrous start, focused on extensive floor and bodywork revisions, including a new “topbody” derived for flow stability and a revised rear wing mechanism to support “Straight mode”, that attracted attention from rivals due to its slot size gap.
Championship leaders Mercedes, by comparison, have brought very little to the Sunshine State. Its new upgrades consist only of a repositioned tailpipe, with a new slotted bracket for drag reduction and an increased front drum lip chord to improve rear downforce.
Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have delivered a clear statement of intent, bringing effective B-Spec cars to Miami in an effort to catch Mercedes. The Silver Arrows will be hoping to maintain its early advantage.
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