Formula One Vault

PRIXVIEW – Miami Grand Prix

Round six marks the quarter way through the 2025 season and the sport’s first visit to the Americas this season and the sunshine state of Florida for the fourth world championship Miami Grand Prix. The circuit built around the Hard Rock Stadium made its debut in 2022

The nineteen-corner circuit was a result of seventy-five designs and thirty-six simulations, the designer wanted to create a circuit which maximised the space and creates opportunities for overtaking. However, this hasn’t been one of the best of the current generation when compared to Baku or Jeddah, there has been rumour at looking at some of the other designs to try and boost overtaking

Miami held its first Grand Prix almost a century ago in 1926, this being the fourth alteration of the Grand Prix previously being the CART IndyCar World Series and an Indy Racing League in 1980s until 2010. 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.

Plans for an F1 race can be traced back to the early 1980s when Ralph Sanchez, a local Miami promoter and racing car driver proposed a race on a hybrid street/permanent circuit in Bayfront Park in the centre of Miami to Bernie Ecclestone, but for various reasons was not able to make it work.

Liberty Media and Port of Miami put forward a similar proposal in 2019, based on the original proposal inspired by Baku but for the same reasons these also failed. The third attempt was creating the circuit we see around the Hard Rock Stadium. The circuit is tricky given it’s one where you need to balance risk versus reward, its 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 opportunities for overtaking.

The three main straights followed by herd-breaking zones, the circuit often being the main opportunity for overtaking, with two of them being good for overtaking, but that isn’t without risk. The normal 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 beginning to see come almost the standard in the sport.

Charles Leclerc beat his teammate Carlos Sainz to pole after topping Q1 and Q2 the Monacan was two-tenths faster, this was Ferrari’s first front-row lockout since Mexico City 2019. 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.

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, seemingly 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.

2023 saw Sergio Perez beat Fernando Alonso to pole after it was decided on the opening runs and left Verstappen tenth after he aborted his first run, while the second runs at the end of Q3 were abandoned after Leclerc crashed. Sainz put his Ferrari third half a second off pole and ahead of the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, who put in a decent performance to go fourth. Logan Sargeant was slowest, the Floridan going nearly a tenth behind Piastri ahead of his home Grand Prix.

In the race, Verstappen craved his way through the field thanks to a long opening stint and not stopping until way into the final quarter of the race and passing Perez with eleven laps to go. For a long period the race seemed set for a grandstand finish as the margin remained around sixteen seconds, four seconds less than the time Verstappen would need to complete his pit stop.

Race & Circuit Guide

Fast facts

• When it joined the schedule, Miami International Autodrome became the 11th different venue to host a Formula 1 race in the United States. Watkins Glen has hosted the most F1 races of any American circuit. It appeared on the calendar as host of the United States Grand Prix in every season between 1961 and 1980.
• 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 polesitter is yet to win the Miami Grand Prix, though Max Verstappen did win the sprint from pole last year.
• Lando Norris claimed the first victory last year, making him the first driver to secure their maiden F1 win in the United States since Michele Alboreto at the 1982 Caesars Palace (Las Vegas) Grand Prix.

Event timetable

What happened in 2024?

Sprint Qualifying, saw Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc by just over a tenth to take pole. Despite struggling to get his tyres to work the Ferrari driver managed to split the two Red Bull’s as he went a tenth and a quarter faster than Sergio Perez, the challengers for pole never managed to materialise. One of the surprises was Daniel Ricciardo who was fourth six hundredths ahead of Carlos Sainz. Leclerc had missed most of practice after he spun off and hit the wall, bringing out the red flag as he stopped on track.

The Sprint, Verstappen fended off Leclerc who made a good start before a safety car was brought out for a collision involving Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Stroll was on the outside of Alonso and Hamilton, who dived up the inside to make up ground. Alonso suffered a puncture as he was sandwiched by Hamilton and Stroll, the latter also retired after pitting at the end of the first lap.

Things went from bad to worse for the Mercedes driver, every time he tried to pass the Haas Magnussen made his car wide enough to deny Hamilton a way pass as he tried to secure the final point.

GP Qualifying, saw Verstappen take pole once again ahead of Leclerc by a tenth and a quarter despite neither improving on their final attempts. Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz beat the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez to third. Lando Norris going fifth, using the upgrades the Englishman a tenth and a half almost behind Perez and ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri by nearly a tenth.

Norris went on to have the perfect race taking his first win following a long opening stint allowing him to put under the safety car and retain the lead ahead of Verstappen. Despite Verstappen’s pace advantage, the McLaren driver covered him off before pulling away and taking his first win, losing his unwanted record of most podiums without a win he extended a fortnight ago in Shanghai.

Leclerc was third the Monacan had lost out to Norris at the start of the race before he was briefly overtaken by Piastri early on. However, the second McLaren had a difficult race dropping down the order after a collision with Carlos Sainz. Logan Sargeant the only retirement from his home Grand Prix.

Championship Standings

What to watch for?

I think this is going to be an important race for Lando Norris as he returns to the place last season where he took his maiden win, following two tough weekends in the Middle East. We know that McLaren certainly has the car winning four of the five Grands Prix this season, I think what is going to be key is seeing if and how he bounces back.

Teammate Oscar Piastri, who won those other two races has transformed into a championship contender, its going to be interesting how this plays out with the week off potentially being a reset after an intense five races in six weeks. McLaren I think are the favourites, but this is another street sprint weekend, which means every session matters and increases pressure on the drivers and teams.

Behind McLaren, it has changed race by race, but the feeling is that Red Bull has started to get their act together but still lacks the speed and performance until we see the upgrades for the next race at Imola. McLaren know their advantage has started to reduce and we have seen as we say every season it’s about the strong start.

I think it’s still a bit too tight between Mercedes, and Red Bull with Ferrari just that little bit further behind but close enough to say who looks to be the main rival. Though it’s started to look like Ferrari has started to slip away, partly through mistakes and bad luck they need to if they want to challenge, as this weekend is a quarter of the way through the season, they need to get their act together.

Mercedes while they haven’t had ‘headline-grabbing’ results, performances or stand-out moments, they have been quietly picking up consistent results. I wouldn’t be surprised in the same way as Ferrari if they got their act together, they could still play an important role if we see like we saw last season the field dramatically change mid-season.

Miami I feel may be slightly underrated when compared to Austin or Vegas, it has had mixed results though overtaking is difficult it’s not impossible when compared to other modern circuits. To me doesn’t seem to be like a stand-out moment, when compared to the two other races in the US

I still think qualifying is going to be tight it’s a similar situation to Jeddah where the track will get faster throughout both Sprint Qualifying and GP Qualifying, but given it’s a street circuit there remains the risk of yellow and red flags which can lead to drivers having laps deleted.

We have seen this season it being so tight to get into Q2 and Q3 in any format that could mean with two qualifying sessions we could see two very different results. But the important thing is learning for the main event.

2023 vs 2024 Race Data

2024 Lap time comparison

Tyres