Lewis Hamilton jokes that he’s done more wet-weather testing lately than at any point in his career. Honestly, he hopes all that rain experience pays off this Sunday at the Miami Grand Prix, especially since the forecast is threatening thunderstorms.

Over the break, Ferrari put Hamilton through two days of wet testing at Fiorano. He says the SF-26 actually feels pretty decent in the rain. That could be good news, since these new F1 cars are still a bit of a mystery to most drivers when it comes to wet conditions.

Ferrari didn’t sit still during April. They squeezed in a Monza filming day where fans spotted their rotating rear wing in action, a feature last seen in China. There’s a buzz about a sizable upgrade package for Miami, too.

Hamilton was blunt about Monza: “I didn’t learn anything there; it’s just a filming day.” But his time at Fiorano was more valuable, since he got to test Pirelli’s wet tyres and actually talk with them about improving grip. Most drivers complain about tyres and grip, looking for any edge they can get, and Hamilton’s definitely got to know the wet tyres better lately.

He’s curious if all this wet-weather testing will actually give him an advantage in Miami, but in his words, "I don’t know. I’ve probably done more wet testing than ever. Barcelona was a whole day in the rain, honestly – not fun – and then those two days at Fiorano two weeks ago.” Still, he points out, F1 used to have some amazing rain races, and the SF-26 feels alright when it’s wet.

Hamilton’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, has his own take on these cars in the rain. He says you can actually go “much faster” at the end of straights when it's wet, mostly because you don’t need as much battery recharging. It’s a weird quirk; sometimes you’re barrelling down in the wet faster than you would in dry conditions. The corners feel good; the car’s light and responsive. But on the straights, closing speeds can get hairy, especially if drivers use different power unit strategies and visibility drops to nearly nothing.

Leclerc explains that in the rain, “We’re really just passengers. It’s not about bravery; you stay flat out and hope no one in front is slower than you. That used to be an easy assumption in previous years. Not anymore. We'll go all out and see what happens, but honestly, it’s not a great feeling. We still need to find a fix for that.”

Mark Temple, McLaren's technical director for performance, thinks the new rule changes will finally fix the drivers’ complaints, especially in qualifying.

Drivers won’t have to worry so much about lift-and-coast or super clipping dominating their laps. Getting the energy balance right is now going to feel a lot more like the old days.

Here's what’s happening: Formula 1 rolled out engine rules this year, splitting power 50/50 between combustion and battery, plus some power boosts. The problem? Battery harvesting and things like super clipping and lift-and-coast sucked the excitement out of qualifying. Max Verstappen said it best: it just wasn’t fun. Drivers couldn’t push flat out, and that just ruined the thrill.

Everyone grumbled: drivers, teams, even safety officials. The FIA brought together F1 management, team bosses, and power unit manufacturers. After hashing it out, they agreed to tweak the rules. Maximum battery recharge drops from 8 MJ to 7 MJ for qualifying; peak super clip power gets bumped up to 350 kW; and grand prix Boost power will max out at +150 kW.

These changes kick in at the Miami Grand Prix. We’ll see soon enough if it makes the drivers any happier, but Temple feels it’ll make qualifying noticeably better.

Lift-and-coast and super clipping should now basically resemble what drivers had to do with older power units. Temple breaks it down: “You’ve got lift-and-coast or coasting into corners, trying to harvest energy to use on the straights. But now, there are changes to Super Clip rules and how much energy you can grab over one lap in qualifying.”

He says the biggest difference is how the car feels to drive. The goal: ditch the stuff drivers hated, especially in qualifying. Instead of coasting forever into a fast chicane, you get the natural feeling of staying flat on the throttle and braking hard. Two things change: lift-and-coast should pretty much disappear in qualifying, where drivers used to let off and coast before braking. Now, the power unit does its thing more efficiently, letting drivers hold full throttle while the car recovers energy. Straight Mode stays active, so they’re not slowing as much. The switch from throttle straight to brakes feels normal again.

Plus, the duration of the super clip or coasting phases gets cut way down. So, when they do show up, they’re quick and manageable, kind of like tyre or fuel management moments from past seasons. Qualifying laps should feel way more natural.

There’s some other complicated stuff under the hood, mostly about how the car manages and deploys energy. That gets a bit simpler, too, making things less finicky for drivers.