So far the 2022 Formula One season has been going according to the tastes of the rights holders and the neutral Formula 1 fans. World champion Max Verstappen and challenger Charles Leclerc alternate their victories. At the season opener in Bahrain and the third race in Australia, Charles won in his Ferrari. The Red Bull Dutchman countered in Saudi Arabia and most recently in Imola. In the Formula 1 Driver Standings, Charles Leclerc is ahead with 27 points.
Ferrari and Red Bull duel at the top, behind them the midfield is motley. Alpine probably has the third fastest car in one lap, but fails in the race. The car puts too much strain on the tires and the A522 lacks reliability. Mercedes experiences the opposite: there is a lack of speed for one lap. The Silver Arrow needs more laps to get up to speed. That’s what the reliability is for. The two teams are joined by Alfa Romeo, McLaren, Haas and Alpha Tauri.
Forecasts are difficult to make both at the top and in midfield. The unpredictability makes Formula 1 exciting. Rights holder Liberty Media comes in handy just before the home game. This weekend, the big dream of the Grand Prix in Miami will come true for the US media company. Formula 1 is supposed to put on a really big show there.
The Formula 1 hype in the States is currently boundless. “Drive to survive”, the documentary series produced in a collaboration between Netflix and Formula One about the premier class, its drivers and teams has given the sport a boom. The tickets for the Miami premiere sold out very quickly after they were announced last year. Even the high ticket prices of sometimes more than 1,000 US dollars for a weekend ticket did not deter the fans. The premiere in the “Sunshine State” promises the best entertainment on the racetrack in front of packed grandstands.
The defeat in Imola put Ferrari under a bit of pressure ahead of the Miami Grand Prix this weekend. Red Bull brought minor upgrades in Italy that hit the spot immediately. Experts say that the RB18 was a touch faster than the red car. But Ferrari will will not fall into actionism: they are sticking to the plans, yet the Maranello team is bringing a few first upgrades for the F1-75 for the premiere in Miami.
It’s mainly about adapting the aerodynamics to the fast race track, which will probably require a medium to low level of downforce. “We are confident that our package for Miami is a fairly efficient one,” says Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto. One can assume that primarily an adapted rear wing is meant.
Otherwise, Ferrari will return to the subject of bouncing and continue to work on eliminating it as much as possible. Bouncing on the straights is Mercedes’ biggest issues. The world champion team now knows how and when it occurs, but a suitable fix has not yet been found so that the bouncing does not cost valuable tenths of a second.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma! Enter the online Pume Store and shop securely! And get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
In Miami, Mercedes wants to take the first of many steps to get rid of it. “Hopefully we already have a few parts in Miami that show us if we’re going in the right direction,” says chief engineer Andrew Shovlin.
A new track and little data: the teams depend on their simulation tools. The more precise they were beforehand, the easier it will be to get off the starting grid and refine the setup. Red Bull and Ferrari were so far ahead of the rest in the first races that a lot would have to come together for them not to decide pole position and race victory among themselves again.
If we had to guess, it seems that Red Bull is going into the weekend with an advantage. Because until now the RB18 has been good in the corners and had an outstanding top speed. However, if Ferrari’s medium-low downforce package works, the Italian side could regain the upper hand as well. Therefore: a prediction is hardly possible.
Leave a Reply