Miami track: long straights and fast corners, but downforce shoul not be underestimated. Miami track characteristics.

Miami is ready to host the first Formula 1 Grand Prix in its history. The organizers fought and worked hard to be able to host F1, with harsh complaints from citizens who tried to stop the event in multiple ways, changing the original plans that focused on a race in the middle of the city. The main venue has thus become the Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Miami Dolphins, whose owner is part of the group that promotes the event where other great sporting competitions are already held, such as the SuperBowl, and Formula 1 is now among them. 240,000 people are expected in the three days at the Miami International Autodrome, with everything already sold out for days.

Since Liberty Media became the owner of Formula 1, the ‘world’ and, more generally, the American market has acquired more and more importance given the vastness and the financial resources available as compared to other areas – in this case Europe more than Asia – and that is the reason why in 2022 we will have two races in the US, while in 2023 the number will rise to three, with Austin, Miami and Las Vegas.

Liberty Media’s intention is to make the event as a 360° show, which can entertain the public not only during the sessions on the track but also in the minutes of rest or in the days before with an increasingly frequent combination of sport and entertainment. An example is the opening ceremony which will open the weekend and will host many international guests, from various domains such as music, sport and cinema. The intention is to make the Miami event a unique spectacle and to recreate – and above all improve – the atmosphere experienced last year in Austin, with the grid and stands full of fans and celebrities. And the fake sea bay is also part of this American show, which for many may be tacky, but which is intended to broaden the F1 audience; up to now, the decisions made by Liberty Media have often led to success from this point of view.

The new Miami International Autodrome is 5,412 km long and has a total of 19 corners of different types, 12 of which on the left and 7 on the right. There are three DRS zones for the first Miami F1 event: on the starting straight, between turns 9 and 11 and the main straight between turns 16 and 17. The circuit falls into the category of moderately demanding for the brakes (Brembo rating in 3 from 5). There are four braking points, 3 of which are challenging, especially corner 17. The cars will arrive at the end of the long straight with a speed of about 326 km / h to pass, with braking of 2.8 seconds with 4.6 g of deceleration in 131 meters, at 77 km / h. In Sunday’s race, the drivers will have to complete 57 laps of the Miami track.

The circuit has medium-low load characteristics and in fact some teams will introduce adaptations to the circuit represented by wings with the lowest possible drag. Some teams, such as Alpine and Red Bull, have already sported very low rear wings while others, such as Ferrari, have not yet resorted to this type of component.

“In Miami we will certainly have a new rear wing to adapt to the characteristics of the circuit that requires a low to medium level of downforce. We are satisfied with the level of efficiency that the package can give us” – Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto had already revealed after the race at Imola. Everyone is waiting for the first major updates for the F1-75, but those will only arrive in Spain (following the development program studied in Maranello), as confirmed by formu1a.uno.

There will also be great focus on trying to limit the phenomenon of bouncing which, in part, is limiting the performance of the Ferrari F1-75 cars, even if not in such an important and comparable way to how it is strongly affecting the Mercedes W13.

An important unknown factor will certainly be represented by the asphalt. In fact, each new circuit does not offer references to the teams on the roughness and grip that this can give. Mario Isola also expressed himself in this regard in the preview published by Pirelli: “When there is a new circuit we always try to have a conservative approach by choosing C2-C3-C4 compounds, even if we expect to have good grip thanks to the treatment with high pressure water carried out on the asphalt”.

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Pirelli’s boss also places emphasis on the right-front tires, which are heavily stressed due to the prolonged croners. On a technical level, the grip of the asphalt and the temperatures could change the type of circuit which would naturally tend to be slightly front limited or neutral, that is, it could present understeer problems if the cars find themselves sliding and not finding sufficient grip from the track. With a hot asphalt, however, it will also be important not to underestimate the rear, above all because it will have to work with lower loads than in the previous events and this could open greater gaps in the slow section, showing even more how good the cars are in this regard.

The long corners will cause a lot of stress to the tires and it will be important to know how to generate longitudinal load, with precise stable cars at the entrance in order to then be able to discharge energy to the ground in the traction phases, which are crucial given the important straights. To break the pace there will be a very slow area, with several hairpin bends where the car will need to be stable to withstand the curbs. It will therefore be important to find a balance between the aerodynamic load useful for the many corners, especially the slow ones, and to manage the tires during the race in hot conditions and a lot of aerodynamic efficiency to ‘fly’ on the numerous straights of the Miami circuit.