Gabriel Bortoleto stands in the Audi Revolut F1® Team garage wearing his special Miami edition helmet and race suit while pulling on a glove beside team members.

01 MAY 2026

Miami Grand Prix 2026: Tight midfield, clear direction

Audi Revolut F1® Team improves after a difficult practice session, moving closer to the midfield in Sprint Qualifying with SQ3 narrowly out of reach.

Stability as a foundation

Friday started from an unstable baseline. High temperatures limited balance and reduced preparation time in the sole practice session. The response was immediate. Set-up changes stabilised the car for Sprint Qualifying, bringing both entries closer to the midfield while narrowly missing SQ3. Margins remained minimal. Small differences defined multiple positions. Focus now shifts to the Sprint race. Audi Revolut F1® Team moves into Saturday with improved understanding and the intent to gain positions while reinforcing the baseline for the rest of the weekend.

“It was a good recovery after a not ideal FP session, and overall, a very tight qualifying."

"Both drivers missed out on SQ3 by just a couple of hundredths of a second, which shows how fine the margins are. We came into the session knowing that if everything came together, we could be in that fight, and ultimately,
we were right on the edge of it. "

Portrait of Alan McNish, director of the Audi Revolut F1® Academy Driver Development Programme

Allan McNish

"While it’s frustrating to miss out by such small differences, it also highlights how competitive the field is and where we need to focus to make the next step. On the positive side, the feedback from both drivers on the balance of the car was encouraging and we’re in a reasonable position heading into tomorrow. There’s still a lot up for grabs.”

"Coming into the weekend, expectations were fairly open, but overall, it was a decent session for us."

"It wasn’t perfect, but I think we extracted what was there today. There’s still a lot of racing to be done. Our race pace has looked quite solid recently, so the focus now is on putting everything together when it counts. Conditions here will be a factor, especially with the heat, so it should be an interesting one.”

Nico Hulkenberg stands outdoors in the Audi Revolut F1® Team Miami race suit and dark ic! berlin sunglasses, with tall palm trees rising behind him.

"Obviously, I’m a bit disappointed not to make it through to SQ3, it was close and I felt like we had the potential today."

"The lap itself wasn’t too bad, but there were a few small things here and there that could have gone better. At the same time, I'm happy because we had a couple of challenges in FP and we lost half an hour, so happy to go to Sprint Qualifying and still be able to progress. It felt like the car did a good step."