FIA declare Miami GP ‘rain hazard’ as thunderstorms loom
The FIA has officially announced that a “rain hazard” is expected during the Miami Grand Prix due to the looming threat of thunderstorms. Discussions are underway to consider moving the start time of Sunday’s race forward from the original 1600 local time due to consistent forecasts of heavy and persistent thunderstorms, which could render racing impossible as seen during the delayed 2025 Sprint race. According to US law, similar to regulations in NASCAR and IndyCar, all outdoor sporting events fall under the eight-mile lightning radius rule, which mandates immediate suspension if a lightning strike occurs within that distance, followed by a 30-minute countdown for resuming the event. Formula 1’s sporting rules specify that a rain hazard must be declared if the official weather service predicts a rainfall probability over 40% for the race, as outlined in Article B1.5.11 which mandates the declaration of the hazard no later than two hours before qualifying starts and remains in force until the end-of-session signal is displayed. FIA race director Rui Marques issued the rain hazard signal at 13:17 local time, 2 hours and 43 minutes ahead of the 16:00 local qualifying start time.
