Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes! That sums up practice and qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, and will decide the outcome of the first race around the home of the Dolphins and their Hard Rock Stadium.
And what an incredible weekend it has been thus far, F1 veteran Martin Brundle has never experienced so much hype and excitement for a race, and today we have it with a salubrious all Red front row and an all Blue second row.
The “He” mentioned in the headline is probably going to be Pole winner Charles Leclerc or Pole loser Max Verstappen; yes a mistake cost the Red Bull driver Pole, but a hot banker lap ensures he starts directly behind the #16 Ferrari on today’s grid.
Smart money is on Verstappen having the edge on outright speed. How that will translate into race pace will be interesting as the Bulls had a troubled weekend thus far and their reliability remains a concern.
Leclerc on the other hand has only made one glaring mistake all year – at Imola while chasing the Bulls – and will be mindful that he still leads the championship by 27 points, which means he does not have to attack as much as Verstappen whose two DNFs mean he has to beat the Monegasque from now on until that gap is closed or surpassed at least.
While the two square up, backing them will be Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, the Ferrari man has it all to do so as to salvage a divebombing reputation while Perez has slotted in, accepting he is Verstappen’s wingman whether he likes it or not, and it appears the Mexican is liking it while raising his game at the same time.
A premature end to Carlos Sainz’s FP2 session ?#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Daz29vaFD1
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 6, 2022
Carlos on the other hand needs to beat Charles, but before the Spaniard does that, at least he needs to finish the race (on the podium) without a prang or a mistake… There you go that Miami GP buzzword! This is a no-can-fail race for Sainz and he knows it.
Spoiler Alert! Hypothetically, if the Blues and Reds tangle, trip up or whatever; we have a fired-up Valtteri Bottas starting fifth in the Alfa Romeo, sharing row three with none other than his former Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton (how poetic is that!) in sixth finding the ‘On’ button in qualifying; as did AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly whose up and down form appears to be up this time around.
Bottas was fifth at Imola and looks up for a fight, while the other two just behind him had a below-par weekend in Italy and will be looking for redemption on a day when attrition will be high and could well favour them.
Fling in an always good Lando Norris and an ever-improving Yuki Tsunoda, for a tasty top eight!
Charles and Carlos’ first front-row lockout as team mates ???#MiamiGP #F1 @ScuderiaFerrari pic.twitter.com/SkzNfmytFq
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2022
Other race day storylines to keep an eye on include:
- What will George Russell make of a disappointing qualifying. Starting 12th and out of place relative to Hamilton, expect the Mercedes youngster to bolt up the order as he knows his way around a packed midfield thanks to those Williams years toiling in no man’s land, delivering way over expectations.
- Daniel needs a serious wake-up call as his form compared to Norris is increasingly unacceptable for a driver of his experience and stature. A good race once a year is not good enough if he is to last much longer in F1. It’s a crisis for the likeable Australian, but he has hardly been the driver he was at Red Bull… Watch him.
- Aston Martin? Who knows which Green car pitches up today: the shit one or the very shit one? Lance is good in races of high attrition; Seb… is he still bothered?
- K-Mag is out of position too and could be a dark horse as he is not afraid of a barroom brawl which
On that note, the Miami International Circuit, with its wall-lined fast bits combined with that wacky slower than Monaco section, can do with some tweaks for the next one, but it is growing on us as it is truly a test of drivers, punishing slight errors as it should be.
It also aptly highlights the curse that acres of run-off on modern tracks are for motorsport, with the track-limits debate always an issue.
Not so on venues such as Miami that has turned out to be one where you cannot argue with a solid concrete wall!
Because of that simple fact, the hero-zero factor looms heavier over this type of street race than any other, Monaco-esque vibes actually, which means Miami Autodrome cannot be such a bad race track.
Having said that. Let’s bet on how many red flags/ safety cars there will be!
Granted the Boys were well behaved in qualifying, but the traffic jam around the car park during the race will be another kettle of fish altogether as these not so nimble, far too long F1 cars test these great drivers to the max, so as the headline says avoiding mistakes will be key.
The race report will replace this preview when the Miami Grand Prix ends, please refresh this page.
IT’S RACE DAY IN MIAMI! ???
Bring on our first-ever Grand Prix in the Sunshine State! ? #MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/xvbdSbswNw
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 8, 2022