Miami GP 2023

This Miami Grand Prix was nothing short of....clean. Well so clean that it is the 13th race in all of f1 history with not even a SINGLE DNF (a car that did not finish). I did enjoy this race as it had many unexpected moments. But without further ado...let’s start from the beginning of the 2023 Miami Race Week.

It was practice on a Friday, the 5th May where all the teams were testing the cars and making minor adjustments and upgrades to improve its performance as much as they could before the actual race. The practice results were a pleasant surprise with a Mercedes 1-2, Russel P1 and Hamilton P2. Not me thinking we could genuinly secure a Mercedes podium this early in the season but you cant blame me for having hope. Leclerc secured P3. Practice 2 was held later on the same day. The positions changed to Verstappen finishing P1, Sainz P2 and Leclerc again P3 before crashing into the barriers in turn 8, ending the session and causing a red flag. Practice 3 was held on Saturday, the following day and nothing much changed. Verstappen finishing top again, Leclerc P2 this time and Perez, Verstappen's teammate, finishing P3.  

The qualifying was later on the same day. Qualifying is very important, especially on this track. This is because overtaking is so difficult here in this track. This is not only due to the recently shortened DRS zones the FIA have introduced to make racing more difficult, (WHY FIA? WHY?) but also because of the low grip track surface. Even slightly off the track line can lead to you losing control and crashing into the barriers, which is why overtaking may be incredibly difficult. 

Q1 was quite interesting as it began with Hamilton accidentally hitting the barriers because he came awfully close to Haas, very strange. Anyways, Q1 ended with Verstappen first, Sainz second, Perez third and Leclerc fourth. A delightful surprise was to see both Haas cars in the top 10, Magnussen P5 and Hülkenberg P8. Both Alfa-Romeo cars were also doing exceptionally well in this track, with Bottas P6 and his teammate, Zhou with P10. The Mercedes struggled with P17 and P18 in the elimination zone, but quickly recovered with Hamilton claiming P6 from Bottas and Russel claiming P11 from Alonso. The last 5 got eliminated (16th place - 20th place) which were Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll, Piastri and Sargeant. 

Q2 started with an unsafe release from a Haas car in the pits, which was close to colliding with Alonso’s car. It ended with Verstappen P1, Leclerc P2 and Alonso P3. Ocon manages to claim a brilliant P6, Bottas following him with P7 along with the Haas of Magnussen reaching P8. Definite surprise when the underdogs performed so well in this track. Unfortunate day for Hamilton as he had a slow lap time and couldn’t escape the elimination zone, falling into P13. His teammate Russel, managing to secure himself  better, with P10. In the last moment, Gasly came through with an incredible lap time moving himself up to P8. The last 5 got eliminated again (10th place to 15th place) which were Albon, Hülkenberg, Hamilton, Zhou and De Vries.

Q3 was definitely a shock to many, as we all expected it to be another easy max pole. But due to a slippery  lap, his lap time was deleted because he exceeded track limits. This left Verstappen frustrated while his teammate, Perez, managed to secure P1. Everything was going smoothly, with Alonso at P2 and Sainz at P3 followed by Magnussen and Gasly. Leclerc was desperately attempting a good lap this time to get himself on the podium but made a mistake on turn 8 (exactly the SAME corner he made a mistake on in FP2) which caused him to crash into the barriers causing a red flag and ending the session early. This left Verstappen unable to complete his lap which left him in P9 for the actual race. Leclerc was P7. 

The Miami Grand Prix began on a Sunday afternoon. Many celebrities arrived on the day like Serena Williams, Tom Cruise, Roger Federer, A$AP Rocky, etc. FIA decided it would be a nice idea to setup a parade to introduce the drivers to the audience (because why not, it’s Miami anyways). So singer Will.I.AM’s orchestra played out his new track, THE FORMULA ft. Lil Wayne, as he sang and introduced the drivers. It was definitely entertaining especially to see some of the drivers expressing their dislike for the whole show as it seemed ‘unnecessary’. Personally, I quite liked it. 

The race began with Perez on pole. “It’s lights off and away we go..” and a clean start for Perez as he maintains pole, followed by Alonso and Sainz. Gasly manages to overtake Magnussen and reaches P4. Russel overtakes Magnussen as well and gets P5. Verstappen gets a difficult start, especially on hards, and loses a place to Ocon in P9. In Lap 4, Verstappen gets DRS and slingshots past Leclerc and Magnussen up to 6th. Later on in lap 8, Verstappen does another clean overtake on Russel in P5. It’s only a matter of time until he catches up with Gasly, which he does one lap later, overtaking him effortlessly in the corner. In lap 14...can you guess who overtook who? Yes, Verstappen with another overtake on Sainz who could barely fight for the position. Just one lap later, Verstappen overtakes Alonso and moves up to P2. Yes, he went from P9 to P2 in a matter of 14 laps. INSANE. Sainz pits in lap 20 and gets a 5 second penalty due to speeding in the pitlane, dropping him to P7. Perez pits in lap 21, leaving Verstappen to gain pole. From lap 15 to lap 20, Hamilton has managed to gain an impressive six places, going from P12 to P6. In lap 21, Sainz manages to overtake him, leaving Hamilton in P7. Russel pits, dropping him down to P12. In lap 37, Leclerc manages to overtake the Haas of Magnussen and obtain P11 (don’t know why it took him that long but Ferrari never fails to disappoint me :)) But wait...ONLY TO GET OVERTAKEN BY MAGNUSSEN AGAIN ON THE SAME LAP. Yes, bad day for Leclerc, very bad day. Don’t worry ferrari fans, Leclerc manages to then overtake Magnussen on Lap 38 (it just took him 38 laps to do so!). Hamilton pits on this lap, this time on mediums, dropping him back to P13. 8 laps later, he’s already in P9. Max pits and since he’s so far ahead, by the time he finishes pitting, his teammate has only barely passed him (Perez is P2) so they battle it out but in lap 48, Verstappen remains victorious and overtakes Perez (beautiful battle from both drivers). Hamilton overtakes Ocon and lands in P8. Leclerc manages to fight his way through with the amount of laps he has left, and reaches a brilliant P7 in lap 48. On lap 53, he overtakes Ocon, who accidentally locked up, giving room for the Monagasque to speed past. One lap later, Hamilton catches up to Ocon and Leclerc. With DRS, he gets the opportunity for an overtake, which he beautifully does and obtains P7 while chasing Leclerc down. Only a lap later, he gets DRS yet again and zooms past the Ferrari, landing in P6. The race ends, with Verstappen in P1, followed by Perez, Alonso, Russel, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc, Gasly, Ocon and Magnussen. Logan Seargent came last which was quite disappointing considering it was his home race, but in his defense, he doesn’t have a very competitive car. Verstappen crowned driver of the day as well, for his brilliant recovery from P9 to P1.

F1 has definitely become a lot more interesting when compared to last year, as most of the cars are preforming on the same level and many are catching up fast. I doubt we will ever see a dominance like the Mercedes dominance for Redbull no matter how much the odds may look in their favour now. I’m sure FIA won’t allow it. Anyways, I loved this Miami Grand Prix, not only because Hamilton made a brilliant recovery, but because of its unexpected outcomes. That's F1 for you, never underestimate its unpredictability!