Mercedes may have won again but Miami upgrades have shaken up the F1 grid | Giles Richards

Ferrari would be disappointed after not quite making the same strides as their rivals. Charles Leclerc looked to be a genuine contender for the win but his early pace faded, a pattern that has been seen in other races this season and he noted the lack of race pace and severe tyre degradation. Their car has the potential but they have not matched McLaren or Red Bull.

Indeed McLaren have more to come, with another swathe of developments for the next round in Canada including a new front wing. Mercedes will also bring their first major upgrade to the W17 in Montreal. We have a fight that will run and run then, not least because no development at this stage is wasted given at very least it can still inform next year’s car. This is an engineering contest set to burn white-hot.

Somewhat more lukewarm was the reception to the regulation changes imposed in an effort to end driver dissatisfaction with the aforementioned energy management. The adjustments, effectively tweaks to the parameters of recovery and deployment of electrical energy, received an underwhelming response.

They were welcomed but were clearly not sufficient to silence the drivers’ vocal unhappiness with the new formula. Norris perhaps summed up the feeling in noting drivers were still penalised for pushing the cars and that the only answer was to ”get rid of the battery”. That view was shared by Verstappen, even though he enjoyed a much more competitive car in Miami. “It’s still punishing you. The faster you go through corners, the slower you go on the next straight,” he said.

Lando Norris was victorious in the sprint race and pushed Kimi Antonelli close in the Grand Prix. Photograph: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

Moreover this was the reaction at what is considered an “energy-rich” track, where a surfeit of heavy-braking areas makes for plentiful energy recovery and diminishes the aspects most disliked by drivers, that of the having to lift and coast or employing super-clipping, where the battery is charged when at full throttle, slowing the car. How they perform at what are considered the more “energy-starved” circuits will likely revive the chorus of disapproval.

Part of the problem that has after four races become increasingly clear is that the sport is at something of an impasse. The drivers are clearly not happy but F1 is cock-a-hoop at how the new regulations have led to far more overtaking. It is inarguable that the crowd in Miami roared their approval as Leclerc, Norris and Antonelli duked it out in the early stages of the race.

This yo-yo or Mario Kart effect is one which some enjoy and some do not. Critics see it as artificial as the previously derided DRS but F1 insists their fan feedback is very positive, while the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, noted that anyone who did not find the race in Miami entertaining should do one. Well “hide” was the word he used but point made.

Which is the dichotomy of F1 in 2026 after Miami. What is inescapable is that having the stars of the sport still saying they don’t like actually driving their cars cannot be glossed over by any amount of power-up overtaking.