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There will
definitely be something new on the podium at the Miami Grand Prix. Whether
that will be a driver is hard to say as once again Max Verstappen will be a
firm favourite for victory, having already won twice before in Florida.
Irrespective of which three drivers are up there, they will all be wearing a
special edition of the Podium Cap which Pirelli supplies to the top three
finishers and the representative of the winning team. The cap’s turquoise
colour takes its inspiration from the waters that border the city’s beaches,
featuring a stylised palm tree, an obvious Miami emblem, as well as the
stars and stripes of the United States flag.
The Miami Grand Prix is
the sixth round of the season, the first of three to be held in the United
States of America. Running from 3 to 5 May, it is the third edition of this
race which first appeared on the calendar in 2022. The temporary street
circuit flows around the Hard Rock Stadium, a multipurpose venue which is
home to the Miami Dolphins American Football team and this year it will also
host, among other events, the final of football’s Copa America. The Formula
1 team areas are actually located within the facility which creates a truly
unique atmosphere for a Grand Prix weekend.
The 5.412 kilometre-long
track, which the drivers will tackle 57 times on Sunday, features 19
corners, three straights, three DRS zones and top speeds can exceed 340
km/h. There are also some elevation changes, the main one being between
turns 13 and 16, with the track rising and falling as it goes over an exit
ramp and under various overpasses. There’s an uphill approach to the chicane
at turns 14 and 15, with a crest in the middle before the track drops away
on the exit.
The three sectors are each different in character,
making for a lap that has a bit of everything. The first part boasts a run
of eight high speed corners, while the second sector has a long straight and
a few low speed turns. The final run to the finish line consists of a
straight and three flowing corners. There are only two races on which to
base statistics and they suggest the Miami Grand Prix is midfield when it
comes to the number of overtaking moves. As for the forces, both lateral and
longitudinal, to which the tyres are subjected, it rates as one of the
medium to low tracks on the calendar.
The three dry tyre compounds
chosen by Pirelli for this round are in the midrange: C2 as Hard C3 as
Medium and C4 as Soft. The track was resurfaced before last year’s race and
is very smooth, therefore offering quite low grip, a feature compounded by
the fact it is not used for any other motorsport events. This leads to a
very significant track evolution and graining could put in an appearance,
particularly with the Medium and Soft tyres.
Miami enjoys a tropical
climate with air temperature usually exceeding 25°C, very often hitting
30°C, the record being 33°C. In the first ten days of May, it is usually
sunny, but there can be a weather build up leading to showers or
thunderstorms one day out of two or three. The wind is a sea breeze with
gusts of up to 50 km/h. The average number of days in May when the
temperature exceeds 30°C has gone up from 13 days in the Nineties to 23 in
the past decade. Last year, the track surface hit 55 °C, one of the highest
figures seen all season.
In terms of strategy, the Miami Grand Prix
is a classic one-stop race, with Hard and Medium compounds the outright
favourites. Last year, Verstappen started from ninth on the grid on Hard
tyres before switching to Mediums, while the other two drivers who made it
to the podium, Perez and Alonso, went the other way (Medium then Hard).
This is another Sprint weekend, therefore with only one hour of free
practice on Friday morning to try and find the best set-up as well as
evaluating tyre behaviour. Right from the afternoon of the first day, it’s
time for Sprint Qualifying, to establish the grid for Saturday morning’s
Sprint Race. After that, the parc ferme regulations are briefly suspended so
that teams can work on the cars for qualifying and then Sunday’s traditional
Grand Prix.
F1 ACADEMY
Miami also hosts the
second round of the F1 Academy season. In contrast to the opening round in
Jeddah, the weekend in America will see drivers tackle two free practice
sessions in addition to the qualifying session and two races. Abbi Pulling
(Rodin Motorsport-Alpine) arrives in Florida heading the standings on 44
points, with a win in Race 2 in Saudi Arabia. She has a ten point lead over
Maya Weug (Prema Racing-Ferrari), who heads Doriane Pin (Prema
Racing-Mercedes), the winner of Race 1 in Jeddah, by a single point. A week
after Miami, Pin will race for the Iron Dames team alongside team-mate Marta
Garcia in the opening round of the Formula Regional European Championship by
Alpine (FRECA) at the Hockenheim (Germany) circuit from 10 to 12 May. Garcia
won the title in last year’s debut F1 Academy season and, as part of her
prize, receives financial support from Pirelli to help on her motorsport
career path, a prize that’s on offer again this season for the all-women
series. FRECA is another single-seater championship for which Pirelli is the
sole tyre supplier. |
