Formula One is making its third visit to Miami since the inaugural race was held back in 2022. The track around the Miami Dolphins Hard Rock Stadium was resurfaced for its second coming and a number of minor layout changes were made too.
Now in year three, the mystery of a new circuit, how abrasive the asphalt is, what is the temperature range of the surface runs between, average tyre degradation – are all things the teams now have gathered lots of data on and so conditions for the drivers should be less surprising.
F1 drivers experience random variations
However, this is not proving to be the case. The Mystery of Miami for now remains as driver after driver explains how random their experience has been. Sometimes this is from one run to there next – in the same session – where the only variable is the rubber compound fitted to the car.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull figured out there Miami conundrum better than the rest as the world champion came home ahead of the field in Grand Prix qualifying. “It’s been extremely difficult to put a lap in where everything just works,” said Verstappen after collecting his sixth consecutive pole position.
“For some reason it’s just extremely difficult to get the tyres to work around the whole lap. Sometimes you have little moments here and there and it’s not consistent.”
Formula One engineers rarely find themselves in a situation where random unexplained variables are puzzling them. Their world is a set of controllable variables which just require proper sequencing to unlock the problem of making their racing car quick.
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Yet this has been the case in Miami. On Friday McLaren looked to have aced what is being described as their B-Spec car setup as Lando Norris was quickest and by some margin. Yet come SQ3 and a set of soft tyres and Norris went from quickest to starting the Sprint from P9 in a matter of minutes.
“That makes it very difficult to get the perfect lap. Every lap you put on the board you’re kind of guessing,” explained Max.
“Which doesn’t make it so nice to drive… it’s very slippery, the tyres don’t really seem to work that well and when you combine those things it makes it really tricky.”
Charles Leclerc who was second quickest expressed a similar r sentiment to Verstappen: “It’s extremely tricky to put a lap together. The tyres, especially in the second sector, are very inconsistent. There are quite a few corners where you don’t really know what you are going to get,” said the Monegasque driver.
Norris solved the Miami puzzle
Lando Norris who had been quickest on Friday appeared to understand the apparent random variables better than anyone else.
“You push 2km/h more into a corner, even 1km/h more, and it’s the difference between being on the limit and over it and when you go over it you lost a chunk of time,” he said.
“So you do a corner and it feels like you can brake two metres later next time – and then find you can’t. I think it’s just because the track is so hot. Maybe the tarmac plays a part as well.
“So you can get it all to click and look mega and it feels under the limit but it’s not. There’s nothing wrong with the tyres, it’s just the heat.”
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Miami track high power jet wash
Norris may or not have known but Pirelli’s assessment of the circuit this weekend is that the surface is 30% greater than the last time F1 were here. This is presumably due to the high pressure water treatment its received since then which has opened the gap between the stones in the compound.
This doesn’t appear to have caused more traditional tyre degradation as evidence by Yuki Tsunoda who ran 19 laps on the soft tyre during the Sprint. Unusually the track peaked in Sprint qualifying, where Lando Norris on Friday afternoon set a time the stood for the remainder of the weekend.
Being unable to continually improve bit by bit as each track session takes place, had confused some of the drivers. Yet by the end of Grand Prix qualifying, the regular pecking order had somewhat been re-established with Verstappen quickest and Leclerc chasing him down.
“It’s quite frustrating,” said Verstappen, “not fun to drive like that. Some qualifying you go in knowing ‘yeah, I can find a tenth here, there, the tyres are quite consistent and you can just push’. Here you have no idea what you’re going to get. That makes it really difficult.”
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Randomness brings a few surprises
Mercedes even by their recent standards have had a poor weekend so far. Both drivers failed to make the top ten in Sprint qualifying and Russell could only mange the seventh fastest time in Grand Prix qualifying with Hamilton a place behind him.
The Brackley squad benefited from the new parc ferme rules which allowed them to change the setup of their cars after the Sprint and before Grand Prix qualifying.
“It was difficult to land the tyres in the right window,” said the team’s trackside performance director, Andrew Shovlin. “We didn’t seem to be the only team struggling with that, but when we got it right we were strong.”
Yet the apparent randomness of the Miami mystery surface failed to alter the pecking order in the field. Though with just a three second advantage at the Sprint chequered flag, it has restricted Red Bull’s dominance and brought Leclerc, Norris and Sainz much closer.
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Formula One has taken up residence in Miami this weekend but its offering to the USA fans has been less than top drawer now half way through the weekend. The TV coverage of on track action is controlled by F1 and the director for the Sprint race was clearly out of sorts.
The first pass after the frenetic first lap was made by Daniel Ricciardo but the viewers were not privilege to watch this live as the TV director showed cars in line at the back of the field. As the 19 laps of the Miami Autodrome progressed, more crucial action was missed despite the battles at the centre of attention continuing lap after lap…. READ MORE
