A 3s delay (if the connection has nickserv authentication) is the simplest solution. (I agree that 3s is probably a better default than 1s - or it could be a setting.)
But it would be even better if mIRC watched for the Nickserv "identified" message in order not to wait until the 3s has elapsed - but in case it can't recognise the nickserv message, if it has received it in 3s then it should attempt a join anyway. (If we will react to nickserv's notice, perhaps the default timeout should be a little longer - say 5s instead.)
