Just to be boring and repetitive: Red Bull arrives as the favorite in this fifth race of the 2023 Formula One season. Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Mercedes will contend for the position of second force and will have to work hard – if not perform a miracle – to prevent a new Max Verstappen – Sergio Perez one-two finish, strictly in the World Championship order. The Miami circuit is new, with its debut only last season, but rather complete and challenging for the technicians, with a set-up for the cars which is difficult to immediately identify.
Awaiting this year’s Las Vegas debut, Miami hosts the second edition of this American Grand Prix. The track has a section located around the Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Miami Dolphins, and features very varied characteristics: long straights where efficiency is essential and slower, twisty sections where aerodynamic load will be very important. A novelty this year, which has little to do with on-track action, will be the different allocation of the Paddock, moved inside the stadium and the ‘bay’ of last year has been revised with the presence of real water.
Miami GP: Teams looking for the right balance to protect the front and rear without penalizing efficiency.
In the first sector, it will be important to have a strong front and a reactive car, fast in that fast sequence of turns plus the last one, a long left-hand corner (7-8). In the second sector, there are the corners that go from 11 to 16 that require good aerodynamic load, a lot of traction, and a solid rear to transfer the power of the Power Unit to the ground. The last part of the track is characterized by the long final straight, a hairpin to enter and the final straight before the finish line.
This mix of characteristics will make it difficult to find the right balance between front and rear. Last year we saw how Ferrari was very strong in S2, but the weak front forced them into a compromise to improve the first sector. S1 began to be an ally in terms of time, leaving the second sector to Red Bull with a perfect mechanical balance found by Christian Horner’s team. The first part of the circuit favors the risk of front graining, while in the second part the risk is overheating the rear.
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The required load is “medium” because the track has two long straights, plus the starting one. In all three of these sections, it will be possible to use the DRS for a long time. This will be an additional advantage in Qualifying for Red Bull, which gains significant km/h over its rivals. Compared to the last two races, there will also be greater attention to tire management. The track is more demanding, and heat can be a factor (last year the asphalt temperature reached 60°), which means it will be an important test to assess Ferrari’s progress, as explained by Formula 1 expert Paolo D’Alessandro for formu1a.uno.
Compared to Azerbaijan, Pirelli opts for a harder tire range, selecting C2-C3-C4. Among the unknowns, as confirmed by Pirelli boss Mario Isola, there is also the new asphalt of the circuit. “(Last year…) the tires behaved as expected on an asphalt that had rather peculiar characteristics, especially due to a very high “micro-roughness”. We know that the track has been completely repaved, and we will have to verify in the usual inspection before the start of the weekend if there will be significant variations in its characteristics.”
Update plan: Teams are targeting Imola and Barcelona.
The European session has officially started, and despite the sprint format, we have seen some teams rush and introduce innovations already last weekend at the Baku City Circuit. The Miami Grand Prix had been indicated by several teams as a possible location to introduce developments, also taking advantage of the return to the classic format with three free practice sessions.
Instead, the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari will be the first significant venue for substantial development packages, and where the new Qualifying format (with the mandatory use of Hard in Q1, Medium in Q2, and Soft in Q3) will debut in the first leg of the “trio” involving Monaco and Barcelona.
Teams have gradually revised their plans, and so the American track could present fewer developments than originally expected, which will be more focused between Imola and Barcelona, on tracks that are better known to the teams than Miami, a circuit that still needs to be studied and evaluated by the drivers.
Haas will introduce its first developments in what is, in part, a home race. Red Bull, McLaren, and Alpine will also have the opportunity to refine what was brought to Azerbaijan, as well as Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri, who instead introduced some significant innovations in Melbourne. The focus is, of course, on Ferrari and Mercedes, but also on Aston Martin, to understand if the willingness to wait for Imola will be confirmed, or if we will see some updates right from Miami this weekend.
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