Formula One Vault

PRIXVIEW – Miami Grand Prix

Round five takes F1 on its first trip this year to North America for the second Miami Grand Prix. The circuit around the Hard Rock Stadium was built as an alternativee to the original proposal for a street circuit around Port Miami faced objections as well as other plans for a street circuit around the city.

After two years of delay the current circuit built in the grounds of the Hard Rock Stadium, bringing Grand Prix racing back to Florida for the first time since the 1950s. But Miami held its first Grand Prix almost a century ago in 1926, this being the fourth alteration of the Grand Prix previously being CART IndyCar World Series and an Indy Racing League in 1980s until 2010.

While the Miami Grand Prix is the newest race on the calendar, the race can be traced back to the pre-war era and has been used as a title for many different series over the last century, including F1’s predecessor Grand Prix racing in the 1920s and 1930s, although organised not by what became the FIA.

The first Grand Prix was a non-championship round of the pre-war AAA Contest Board, the American version of the Grand Prix racing which later evolved into F1. It was intended to be the winter home for motorsport but it was more an American style banked oval circuit. Only one race was held won by Peter DePalo.

The second incarnation of this rack took place in West End in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. This race was only held twice on 1.7 mile circuit being the CART season finale. The inaugural event in 1985 featured a famous championship battle between the father-and-son duo of Al Unser, Sr. and Al Unser Jr. With Danny Sullivan leading in the waning laps, Unser Jr. was running third, and for the moment, mathematically was going to clinch the championship points title.

Another version of the was ALMS and Champ Car held a joint race on a new circuit at Bayfront Park. The event took place in 2002 and 2003.  For 2002, a 1.387-mile (2.232 km) circuit utilized park roads and extended onto Biscayne Boulevard and 3rd and 4th Streets. In 2003, the layout was changed to drop the 3rd/4th Street loop and add a section on Biscayne Boulevard along the north end of the park.

Grand Am would also use the title as a support race between 1998 and 2012, all these races taking place on different circuits in Miami. `

This race, however only lasted four years before the race was cancelled. Before a one-off rival for Formula E in 2015. The third incarnation of the race was for IndyCar between 1996 and 2010 at Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the Indy cars on the 1.5-mile oval. The CART series participated from 1996 to 2000

On March 26, 2006 driver Paul Dana suffered fatal injuries in the warmup session before the race when he was involved in a high-speed collision with Ed Carpenter at over 215 mph (346 km/h). The race went on as scheduled, but Dana’s teammates withdrew from the race.

The fourth incarnation of this race was with F1 last year, after the takeover by Liberty Media in 2017 the proposals for a street circuit in Port Miami were drawn up. Th plan collapse prompting a wo year delay with the 2021 race being replaced by Jeddah.

The circuit which was designed by Apex Circuit Design was a result of seventy-five designs and thirty-six simulations, the designer wanted to create a circuit which maximised the space and created opportunity for overtaking. The circuit is a temporary circuit, and does not use any public streets that are located around Hard Rock Stadium, though it does cross public roads. Each year and a few weeks before the race weekend, the circuit and its safety features are assembled just for the race weekend.

The circuit last year looked to have the vibes of downtown Miami, a fake marina complete with boats is one of the features in second sector. One of the most challenging sections is between Turns Thirteen and Sixteen, a long back straight before a hard breaking zone before dropping downhill through the final corners. This allows for overtaking.

Drivers appeared to enjoy this circuit and we saw plenty of action through qualifying and the race last year. There are three main straights followed by herd-breaking zones, the circuit often being the main opportunities for overtaking are at the end of the two straights which are hard braking

However being a street circuit the usual caveats apply there the high chances of safety cars, red flags and yellow flags meaning the normal strategy variations. But this to me felt like a go-kart circuit but one of very high spec, we are being to see come almost the standard in the sport. I think last years race was better than my fears I was thinking about how bad, from what I’ve read and heard, Las Vegas in its first incarnation was racing around Caesars Palace car park was.

Although Caesars Palace returns as a backdrop and a section of this years penultimate race.

I think last years race was a success given the fears I had given the history of these types of races in car parks in the US. There was plenty of overtaking with the 3.3-mile nineteen corner circuit with top speeds around 200mph, three are three straights all DRS Zones following tight corners creating the risk of overtaking opportunities.

Last year’s race provided drama and overtaking and this is a unique circuit given it’s not a proper street circuit using public roads however it as always takes time for the circuit to rubber in and we will see rapid track evolution as this is a car park. This circuit despite being a car park still needs the time to rubber in to build the race rubber, we know that the track to get faster and faster improvement was three seconds between FP1 and qualifying.

This circuit appears to favour high speed and downforce, with red bull’s strong start to 2023 and Max Verstappen’s four-second win last year showing that this is a circuit should be one which favours Red Bull. It should again favour them having won the opening four races of the season at high-speed flowing circuits and following their win in Baku.

The race last year saw a close fight between Red Bull and Ferrari with Max Verstappen taking victory in the closing stages after overtaking Leclerc on the final restart of the race. While Sergio Perez was not able to join the fight at the front because of an engine issue which cost him about thirty horsepower.

Race & Circuit Guide

Fast facts

• The very first Grand Prix of Miami took place in 1926. It was held on a board track – a banked oval course, the surface of which was made up of wooden planks.
• F1’s first visit to the third-most populous state in the USA came in 1959, when Sebring International Raceway hosted the first World Championship United States Grand Prix.
• Miami is the only major city in the United States which was founded by a woman. Julia Tuttle, a businesswoman, owned the land upon which the city was built. There is a statue of her located in Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.
• The winner of the inaugural Grand Prix of Miami, held in 1926, was Pete DePaolo. DePaolo had won the Indianapolis 500 one year previously. He went on to sing “Back Home Again in Indiana” as part of the pre-race traditions before the start of the 1971 Indianapolis 500.

Event timetable

What happened in 2022?

Charles Leclerc beat his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz by two tenths to claim pole position. The Monacan looked in control throughout the session Leclerc topped all three parts of qualifying as Ferrari secured their first front-row lockout since Mexico City 2019.

It also allowed Leclerc to take his third pole of the season, as his early championship rival Max Verstappen looked to have the edge going onto the final runs, however, couldn’t repeat the form he had shown earlier in the session, before making a mistake on the final lap leaving him almost two tenths behind his rival. Sainz, meanwhile, bounced back from his FP2 crash on Friday to pip his former teammate Verstappen by five thousandths.

Verstappen went on to win the race by four seconds from Leclerc, having controlled much of the race. At the start, the Red Bull driver passed Sainz before getting past the Monacan when he locked up. the Red Bull driver had edged out enough of a lead to take victory by eight seconds. That margin was cut to just three by a late safety car with a quarter of the race to go when Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris crashed.

The crash happened because Gasly appeared to be driving slowly on the racing line following a minor collision with Fernando Alonso, seemly unaware Norris appeared to continue at speed. The McLaren then tagged the Frenchman, pitching him into a spin and ripping the rear tyre off Norris’s car.

Carlos Sainz recovered from his difficult start to the weekend to finish third seven-tenths behind. The Spaniard managed to hold on to third despite coming under pressure from Sergio Perez, who tried to use the advantage of switching to new medium tyres to pass the second Ferrari.

Race Result – 1) M. Verstappen, Red Bull, 01:34:24.258 | 2) C. Leclerc, Ferrari, +00:03.786 | 3) C. Sainz, Ferrari, +00:08.229

What to watch for?

Red Bull have won the first four races with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have won two races each this year and they looked impressive and in control of the race in Baku last weekend. I don’t expect much to change this weekend if their aren’t major problems as most teams have targeted upgrades for Imola given that the first European race.

This means its going to be a weekend for all the teams about maximising what they have. Normally teams are given the advantage Red Bull have would take advantage of things like safety cars,  however the way in Melbourne and Baku they were able to pull away from the field on the restart has to be worrying for their rivals. Ferrari I think are starting to close down that gap slowly, but in normal conditions they look unlikely to challenge for victory.

This is another street circuit but more like Albert Park as its self-contained circuit we will still have in dry conditions the circuit get faster and faster throughout the weekend and this increases at a street circuit. Being on the track at the right time in qualifying, both because of track evolution and the risk of a red flag is important as with any street circuit.

In the race we saw safety cars, and last weekend in Baku we saw how important getting the timing of pit stops played an important role in Sergio Perez’s win. As we always say reacting to events can be key, but not as key as somewhere like Monaco because you can overtake.

Ferrari looks to have just edged ahead of Aston Martin, the feeling I have is that last weekend they had applied everything they had learned in the break to maximise results and used their upgrades to move forwards. However I think it’s a bit too early to understand the impact of Aston being in the top four but its safe to conclude they will be for the first half of the year at least.

Mercedes had I think a difficult weekend in Baku with George Russell being knocked out in Q2 I think that the close midfield maybe shows these regulations can work but they will look to learn lessons. They have a much better understanding of what went wrong and we know they have a better race car than in qualifying. Their battle is with Alpine at the moment given they are not as close to Aston Martin, but the French are still a bit behind in the midfield fight.

We also aren’t expecting upgrades this weekend they are coming for Imola, but teams may bring minor tweaks and talk about upgrade strategy.

2022 Race Data

2022 Lap time comparison

Tyres