The fifth round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship saw the 20 drivers compete at the Miami International Autodrome, in Florida, under bright sunshine. The circuit has recently been resurfaced, and there was no definite data on tire degradation. Max Verstappen was the protagonist of these 57 laps: after starting from ninth position, the Dutchman climbed to the lead after just 20 laps, following his teammate’s pit stop, on a Sunday in which Scuderia Ferrari was unfortunately the fourth fastest car on the track.
Let’s take a look at the race pace analysis of the 2023 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
Looking at the graph from the Italian website F1inGenerale, we immediately see that the two Red Bull cars have a pace that is clearly superior to that of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin throughout the race. Max Verstappen starts with hard tires, while Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso opt for medium tires. The Dutchman has a better pace than his teammate on the hard tires, at least on paper, in the first 20 laps, despite having to deal with numerous overtakes while the Mexican had clear track: truly impressive. The reigning World Champion seems not to have suffered from tire degradation. On the twentieth lap, Sergio Perez switches to white tires and achieves lap times similar to those of his teammate, who has not yet made his pit stop. In the latter part of the race, when Max Verstappen also stops to switch to yellow tires, Sergio Perez’s lap times become slower than those of his teammate.
Race Pace Analysis: Mercedes vs. Ferrari
Let’s now take a look at the race pace of the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers at the Miami International Autodrome, in Florida. In the early laps, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have a very similar pace to that of George Russell, while Lewis Hamilton on white tires struggles to match his teammate’s times. Around the twentieth lap, the Ferrari and Mercedes drivers stop to switch to white tires. From here on, we see that the trend of the Silver Arrow driver is better than that of the two Ferrari drivers. This is a sign of greater tire degradation than that of Lewis Hamilton. At the 37th lap, Hamilton also stops to switch to medium tires, and his lap times improve significantly, even beating those of his teammate. Finally, note how Max Verstappen’s lap times are significantly better and, above all, more consistent than those of the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers.
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Taking now the best lap of each driver during the Miami Grand Prix, we see that once again it is Max Verstappen who sets the fastest time with 1:29.708. The Red Bull driver also earns an extra point for the fastest lap, going +14 ahead of his teammate. We see that in the top part of the standings, in addition to the two Red Bulls, there are Mercedes and Aston Martin. Ferrari is in the middle of the standings along with Haas, Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri, and Ocon’s Alpine. The lower part of the standings is occupied by the other Mercedes-powered teams, Williams and McLaren, and Gasly’s Alpine.
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