Did F1 just get a season reset?

There was a lot of anticipation surrounding the Miami Grand Prix weekend, not least because of the tweaks to the regulations that were intended to make qualifying more natural and enjoyable for the drivers.

On an energy-rich circuit – one where the layout provided big braking opportunities prior to key straights where battery power was most crucial – it was always likely to be a decent showing regardless, and the pains of Suzuka were not to be repeated. But while the impact of those regulatory adjustments can only be really judged over a wider variety of track layouts, the first significant offerings from the development race can be trusted a little more.

Significant upgrades were introduced by McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull, and all three made clear progress. While Ferrari still appeared to struggle with its power unit deficit and faded the longer a race went on, McLaren was capable of taking the fight to Mercedes throughout the weekend, with Lando Norris leading home a one-two in the Sprint after starting from pole position, and losing out in a nip-and-tuck race against Kimi Antonelli on Sunday.

When the lights went out, any one of the top four teams felt in a position to fight for a podium at least, if not victory. Max Verstappen’s ability to stick with the lead pack for much of the Sprint brought Red Bull into that equation, but it was McLaren who really put the pressure on.

Yet the one team that didn’t bring a major update package – Mercedes – still remains unbeaten on a grand prix Sunday. So is it a case of the teams being out of sync on development or has the fight really closed up already?

“You can clearly see this is a development race and teams bringing upgrades, like McLaren have done well and they didn't make our life easy this weekend and that's how it's expected to go,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told SiriusXM. “But at the end of the day, Kimi had a brilliant weekend from the get-go, very competitive and the right strategic decisions, a great pit stop and that won us the race.”

Mercedes plans on bringing its first significant new package to Montreal next time out, but Wolff does necessarily expect to pull clear once again.

“No, because, you have to be very careful with estimating what the upgrade can bring you because one thing is to have it in theory, the other one is to have a real-life, lap time gain and that's something we haven't got the proof of yet,” he said.

Should Mercedes get that proof in Canada, you might expect a big margin to be opened up. But that overlooks the wider picture of the current situation, with Miami not originally intended to be the location for all of the upgrades that were introduced.

Bahrain was targeted by a number of teams, who then simply had to delay the first appearance of their new parts until Miami, due to the postponement of the two rounds in the Middle East. For some, Miami was then due to be the next venue where further parts could come along, but if not here in the United States then it was Montreal, given the three-week gap between the races. So while McLaren made a big step with a new package this weekend, it also has further plans to introduce more upgrades at the next round.

“First of all I have to say we are very happy with the upgrades, how they behaved, and things went as expected,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said. “Correlation was pretty much perfect with our development tools, and I want to say first of all thank you to the men and women at McLaren for once again proving their talents, their abilities, their knowhow in designing, realizing and then delivering trackside these improvements of the MCL40.

“We saw some other cars bringing if anything even more stuff – Ferrari in particular, and Red Bull – so we are happy that we could keep up with the upgrades that these guys delivered. We know, and we are realistic, that we are still a bit behind Mercedes, and Mercedes will bring some more stuff. At the same time we plan to have a few more parts in Canada, and then some other minor, specific upgrades for Monaco and then for Spain, so the pipeline is full.

“There’s definitely more to come and I think these are good conditions for a very interesting season – not only for McLaren but I would say for the entirety of Formula 1. I think we are now back into a situation in which every weekend, basically, we can have four teams in a condition to fight for pole position and for the victory.”

McLaren took the fight to Mercedes best in Miami, but both Ferrari and Red Bull have demonstrated signs they can emerge as front-running challengers too. Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Ferrari and Red Bull might still see a greater deficit to overcome but both have also proven they can progress with new parts, and if it might be ambitious to expect four teams to be in the fight at every round, there’s a much greater chance of at least one emerging from the pack each weekend to challenge Mercedes.

Against that backdrop, and the fact there are 18 rounds to go with so much more scope for car development, Stella believes McLaren has put itself right back in the picture to compete for both championships this year.

“We said the championship is not signed off already before coming here to Miami, and not necessarily because we were looking at our upgrades, but just because we have done three races. It’s a long season, and we just want to be in the battle of development.

“Above all, we know the initial condition is important, but the development battle will be even more important. So many more races ahead, more upgrades to deliver, lets see at the end of the season who has done a better job.”

As exciting as that prospect is, perhaps the best aspect of the competitive picture from Formula 1’s point of view is the knock-on impact on the wider news agenda. With drivers more likely to ask about deficits to rivals and on-track performance in the fight for wins, their enjoyment of the latest ruleset stops being the main storyline dominating weekends.

If Mercedes remains in reach for the chasing pack from here on out, Miami could prove to be a reset for 2026 in a number of ways.