The second edition of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix ended with the victory of Max Verstappen, who made a great comeback starting from the ninth position, taking advantage of the impressive performance of his Red Bull RB19 single-seater. Behind him were his teammate Sergio Perez and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, who once again proved to be the best of the rest, finishing far ahead of Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari at the Miami International Autodrome in Florida, USA.
In this article, we’ll discover the top speeds reached by Formula 1 cars on the Miami speed trap, located before braking for turn 17. All data comes from the official results reported on the FIA website.
The highest top speed during the Florida circuit race was 348 km/h, recorded by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. The Canadian driver was able to take advantage of the DRS and the car being low on fuel in the final stages of the race, thus registering the highest top speed. It’s interesting to note that it was 21 km/h higher as compared to his teammate Alonso. However, the Spanish driver didn’t have the chance to use DRS at the end of the race in the speed trap area. This gives us an idea of how much of an effect the weight of fuel has on the top speeds that a Formula 1 car can reach, not only in Miami but on any track. The Alfa Romeo of Zhou, powered by Ferrari, and the AlphaTauri of Tsunoda were also very fast, both above 342 km/h.
Max Verstappen’s Red Bull proved to be very fast with its 341.4 km/h top speed. This speed is 18 km/h higher than that of his teammate Sergio Perez, who was never able to use DRS in the speed trap area because once the Dutchman passed him with new medium tyres, he immediately moved more than a second ahead of the Mexican.
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Scuderia Ferrari with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz also did well, recording a top speed of 338 km/h and moving higher up in the standings than what was seen in the previous round of the Formula 1 championship, at the Baku city circuit. The Haas cars also did well in the standings, a sign of the power of the Ferrari engine, which proved to be a tough opponent to pass in the race, thanks also to good acceleration coming out of the corners.
The middle of the standings, however, is very compact, with Ferrari, Mercedes, and Alpine reaching very similar top speeds. A little further back is the McLaren, which seems to generate more drag than its opponents. The problem doesn’t seem to be the Mercedes engine, as both the W14 cars and Lance Stroll’s AMR23 are faster on the straight. At the bottom of the standings, we find Sargeant’s Williams and De Vries’ AlphaTauri, respectively at 323.8 and 321.3 km/h. Probably, like Sergio Perez, they never had the chance to use DRS before turn 17 with a low-fuel car in the Miami Grand Prix.
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