Formula One delivered on its return to the streets of Miami. Daniel Ricciardo scored an improbable P4 in the Sprint and Lando Norris finally broke his duck in an eventful Grand Prix on Sunday.

Carlos Sainz rued the timing of the safety car claiming, “From there I had good pace as I said, if we could have extended for one more lap we could have won this race like Lando did, because we boxed just one lap before the Safety Car and we were ahead of Lando at the time so a bit frustrated there again.”

 

 

Norris saves 11 seconds in SC pit stop

Max Verstappen was philosophical about the timing of the safety car noting some days you gain a benefit from it and other times not. Yet there were questions asked of the FIA officials about how they deployed the safety car which should pick up the leader of the race.

With the leaders having all stopped for fresh tyres except Lando Norris, Magnussen was racing the Williams of Logan Sargent and as they went wheel to wheel into turn three, contact was made and Sargent was sent crashing into the wall and out of his home Grand Prix.

McLaren pitted Lando Norris when the safety car was deployed which saved the British driver around 11 seconds on his tyre change, as the rest of the field was forced to drive at safety car speeds.

However, race control had sent the safety car out and it picked up Max Verstappen as the lead driver instead of Lando Norris. At first glance, this would be an easy mistake given the majority of the time the safety car is deployed, its Max who is leading the race.

Marko paves the way for Verstappen BIG exit

 

 

 

Extra lap advantage for Lando

Yet this gave Norris an even bigger advantage who was able to complete his in lap faster than if he was behind the safety car. The McLaren driver cycled out at the back of the pack but this was rectified before the restart when race control instructed the cars ahead to overtake the safety car and circle round to line up behind Norris.

Again this is not ideal given the extra number of laps lost reforming, but the FIA now insist this was not a “mistake.”

“It was a late call to send the safety car out, so they missed [Lando] Norris by about 20 metres,” the FIA told RacingNews365.

”And then at that point race control decided to go for a slow lap to gather all the cars and to allow the marshals to start the recovery of the vehicle, which wouldn’t have been possible if they’d let all cars pass the SC [safety car] directly. So they waited until all cars were gathered together before allowing them to pass.”

Big Red Bull exodus, another set to follow Newey

 

 

 

FIA explanation sounds hollow

Yet this explanation rings somewhat hollow, given the time lost reforming the field is far greater than allowing the cars to initially cycle around to line up properly behind the safety car.

Of course the conspiracists would suggest this was contrived to deliver a race win for someone other than Max Verstappen, but in all probability it was just a ‘mistake’ of timing. Missing Norris by 20 metres is as quick as the blink of an eye at F1 racing speeds.

As it transpired, the advantage Lando had from missing the safety car was nullified by the fact the entire field reformed right behind him. Further the safety car being deployed was time enough for Norris to pit and retain the lead without the advantage of the extra lap.

When racing resumed, Verstappen made an aggressive attack on the McLaren driver who coming out of turn one had retained his lead of the race. Norris then went on to build a 7.6 second flag to Verstappen, who admitted he just diddd’t have the pace of the McLaren car sporting its range up new upgrades.

Ricciardo out for Imola Grand Prix

 

 

 

Ten second penalty farce AGAIN

The FIA was under fire in Miami for a controversial rule change brought in for this season. The stewards are now encouraged to up what was once a five second time penalty to ten seconds for driver infringements which when issued has proven to be the end of race for drivers suffering this punishment already.

Kevin Magnussen was hit with a ten second penalty at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix which meant he could not possibly finish inside the points. This prompted the Haas driver to go as slow as possible while keeping other cars behind him, to benefit his team mate up ahead. Nico Hulkenberg duly retained his place and scored Haas F1 first points of the year.

Had the penalty been one of just five seconds, its possible Magnussen would have pressed on with his own race, but we’ll never know. The ten second penalty became an issue again in the Miami Sprint and this together with inconsistent rulings from race control meant once again Kevin Magnussen was on another go slow.

Ferrari big upgrade doubts for Imola

 

 

 

FIA should reinstate drive thru penalties

K-Mag was racing Lewis Hamilton for the last paying points position and the battle with the Mercedes driver continued lap after lap. Then entering there chicane complex, Magnussen made a mistake and cut the corner and was instantly hit with a ten second time penalty. The usual protocol is for the drivers to have three times deleted for track limits violations and then  the penalty is awarded. 

But Magnussen had received no prior warning before being hit with the ten second time penalty at the first time of asking. At the same turn several laps earlier, Nico Hulkenberg had cut the corner breaking the DRS to Magnussen, but no lap time was deleted and no penalty issued.

The ten second penalty is not working. So far it has merely served to remove any hope of points for the drivers being penalised which then affects the decision of how they finish the race.

TJ13 has suggested for the Sprint races where no pit stops are scheduled, a driver through penalty would work better than the current ten second time penalty, as it would prevent drivers from doing a “Magnussen”.

Surprising TV audience for Miami GP

 

 

 

Big Norris snub in Miam

Lando Norris snubs the most exclusive golf club. Lando Norris is finally a Formula One Grand Prix winner at the 110th time of asking. The British driver was filmed earlier this year taking a ‘lie detector’ test for Sky F1 and he admitted to making a more positive mindset for 2024 to help him claim his maiden F1 victory.

The McLaren driver held the dubious F1 record for the number of podiums without scoring a victory with a score of 15 prior to his win in the Miami heat. Prior to arriving in the state of Florida, Norris had planned to take a flight up to Georgia after the Grand Prix was finished because he had booked an early T-off time at the world famous Augusta National Golf Club, which hosts the annual grand slam tournament known as ‘The Masters.’… READ MORE