Racers will be able to start the lap in qualifying at full throttle.

      In Miami, drivers will once again be able to start their qualifying attempts at full throttle – this is also one of the amendments made to the 2026 regulations before the fourth stage of the season. It seems completely obvious and natural, and it should be that way; however, one of the unpleasant features of the new generation power units was this: before the start of a fast lap, drivers had to keep the throttle pedal pressed at about 50%, starting to accelerate later, already on the starting straight. The thing is, if you give full throttle right away, the MGU-K motor-generator will engage, and the battery charge will be partially consumed even before the lap begins, which will inevitably affect the lap time. If the battery is not fully charged, it will not be possible to optimally use the hybrid system's energy during the lap. The degree of such consequences varies depending on the track configuration: the longer the distance from the last corner to the starting line, the harder it is for drivers to manage energy consumption. "We had to forcibly keep the throttle pedal at about 50%, for which we had to glance at the display to see exactly how much it was pressed at the beginning of the lap, and that’s not entirely safe," explained Oliver Berman, a Haas F1 driver. But during the April break in the championship, its organizers and participants agreed to adjust the regulations, and these amendments primarily concerned the operating modes of the hybrid system – battery charging and energy usage. Now, during qualifying, drivers will be able to act according to a more familiar algorithm, and Berman called this amendment very useful. His teammate, Esteban Ocon, agrees: "The big plus is that we can act like we did last year – prepare well for the last corner and start the lap." This has become possible because teams can now choose when the MGU-K engages. According to Ayo Komatsu, head of Haas F1, "We can decide for ourselves when to use the energy (of the hybrid system). At some point, you have to use it, and you need to cross the start-finish line quickly; otherwise, you will lose time accelerating towards Turn 1. Overall, it depends on the characteristics of the track, but on the out-lap from the pits, from the last corner to the start-finish line, the driver no longer has to wait for the right moment to give full throttle. Before this, the engineer would instruct him that now he could press the pedal to the limit and start accelerating."