(Motorsport-Total.com) – Teams and drivers will get more practice time at the upcoming Miami Grand Prix. The first free practice, which was originally scheduled to start at 12:30 PM local time, will now start at 12:00 PM. This extends the session time from 60 to 90 minutes.
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The background to the adjustment are the rule changes that Formula 1 announced this week. Teams and drivers have an extra half hour due to the new schedule to familiarize themselves with the changes.
Because Miami is a Sprint weekend, there is only one practice session on Friday before qualifying for the Sprint later in the day. Therefore, it was agreed to extend the duration of FP1 by 30 minutes for this one occasion.
For fans in Europe, the first practice session will therefore start at 6:00 PM instead of the originally planned 6:30 PM CEST. Nothing else changes in the Formula 1 schedule for the weekend; the Sprint Qualifying will then start regularly at 10:30 PM CEST.
The other sessions on Saturday (Sprint at 6:00 PM and Qualifying for the Grand Prix at 10:00 PM CEST) and Sunday (Race at 10:00 PM CEST) also remain unaffected.
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However, Formula 2, which is also competing in Miami, is affected by the adjustment. Practice was originally scheduled for 10:00 AM local time on Friday. Due to the Formula 1 shift, this session also has to be moved forward by half an hour to 09:30 AM.
Formula 1 has decided on several rule changes this week, which will take effect from the Miami weekend. Among other things, the maximum allowed recuperation will be reduced from 8 to 7 MJ, and the peak power of the Superclip will be increased from 250 to 350 kW.
Formula 1 hopes that these adjustments will allow drivers to push more to the limit in qualifying again. Several changes have also been decided for the race, including limiting the MGU-K power to 250 kW in some track sections.
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