April 23 (Reuters) – Formula One drivers will get an extra half hour of practice for next week’s Miami Grand Prix after the cancellation of races in the Middle East and recent rule changes, the governing FIA said on Thursday.
The May 3 race, round four of the season, gets the championship going again after a month without racing due to grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia being called off due to the Iran war.
Tweaks to the technical rules have been made during the break to address concerns from the first three races about driver safety and the racing.
The International Automobile Federation said that after consultation with all stakeholders, the hour-long Friday practice session would be increased to 90 minutes from 1200 to 1330 local time.
It said this was due to the gap since the last grand prix, the tweaks and the Miami weekend being run under the sprint format, with only one practice before sprint qualifying on Friday and then a 100km sprint race on Saturday before qualifying for Sunday’s main event.
Mercedes have won all three races so far with Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli leading the standings.
(Reporting by Alan BaldwinEditing by Toby Davis)
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