Firefox new tab has a box in the middle of the page for you to click in and enter text to search in your default search engine - and it immediately starts typing in the URL bar. IF I WANTED TO USE THE URL BAR I WOULD CLICK THERE.
Throws me off every time.
It’s open source software, raise an issue/bug report if this is unexpected behavior. The community is open and responsive to feedback. Posting here won’t get it fixed.
The purpose of this community is not to get things fixed, it’s to have a place to complain about things that are mildly irritating. For all you know, OP did raise a ticket. That doesn’t mean they can’t also complain about the issue here.
Posting here did get it fixed for him.