Yesterday’s 18-lap race saw strategy play an unusually large role for a Sprint event, as rain delayed the start and meant everyone began on the intermediate. With the humidity being so high in Miami, the crossover came around lap 10-11. Yuki Tsunoda’s experimental laps on the medium tyre, and later Hamilton’s on the soft, were critical in the field understanding that the time to move to slicks had arrived.

Rain and even thunderstorms are forecast for today’s grand prix meaning we could see a similar situation play out as the Sprint – albeit over 57 laps not 18.

Gambles on a starting tyre or on the tyre used when the crossover comes (plus when to make that vital decision) could be critical in determining the finishing order. Drivers like Hamilton in the Sprint who make the call early could benefit, but equally could lose out should the conditions change or not be ready.

But managing the intermediates is equally as important as managing the crossover to slicks. Though they are excellent at displacing water on a wet track, the compound they are made from is actually quite soft and can degrade quickly on a rapidly drying track. As a result, if the race is wet, expect to see drivers pulling off the racing line and onto wetter patches to cool the inters down.

If the grand prix is dry, the teams are in a tricky position given the very limited long-run data they have as a result of there being just one free practice session. That is for all except Mercedes, where each driver did a solid long run on the mediums – Antonelli for 13 laps and Russell for 15.

Based on this limited running in free practice, McLaren look to have the upper hand with Williams and Mercedes both up there too, but of course this isn’t the most representative given the limited laps.

So what strategic options do the teams have?

Pirelli are expecting a dry race to be a one stop, despite the move to a softer compound range compared to last year’s Miami Grand Prix.

Moving from the medium to the hard, or vice versa in a reverse strategy, is what Pirelli anticipate to be the quickest option. But a two stop from the medium to two hard stints, or from the soft to two hard stints, could be possible.

Safety cars could also play a role in the wet or the dry, and nine teams (except for Racing Bulls) have kept two sets of the C3 hard tyre for each driver which would enable some strategic variation in the event of an intervention.