How surprisingly short-lived the Miami stage played the role of a Liberty Media favorite. For years, Formula One’s new owners prepared for this race, changed the track’s configuration, sued the local authorities, and finally got their way – the Miami stage was the first they staged on their own and passed with no obvious overlays.
In fact, this Grand Prix has replaced Monaco with them – it is easier and closer to invite American partners and sponsors to Miami. And there are prestigious hotels for every taste, and more entertainment. Great view, comfortable boxes, beautiful TV picture. Even the marina is made, as in Monaco – a dummy, which will be flooded with water this year for plausibility. But it won’t be until the fall that everything will change – Liberty Media’s new favorite will be the Las Vegas race. And there can only be one favourite.
Only for the third time in Formula 1 history, three Grand Prix will be organized in the same country. This has happened before in the US – in 1982 there were races in Long Beach, Detroit and Las Vegas, and the last race was held on a completely different track than this year. In 2020, three stages were held in Italy in Monza, Mugello and Imola due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Miami round will be the second in a series of five races in six weeks. From Baku, the teams immediately left for the US, where they can finally get to work with new products – there are three full-fledged training sessions this weekend.
But if Friday’s second practice is one of the most useful at most tracks, then in Miami, the schedule was retooled to become the last over the course of the weekend. The session starts at 5.30 pm – on Saturday, by which time qualifying is already over, and the race ends on Sunday.
The usual support races in Miami are cancelled. Last year, a stage of the women’s W Series was held alongside Formula 1, who dreamed of finding American partners and sponsors, but were not impressed by what they saw, and there is no such series anymore. The only supporting race is the Porsche Carrera Cup North America stage – two short races are held during the day so as not to distract the venerable public with unnecessary noise.
A year ago, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari came to Miami as the leaders of the individual classification and the Constructors’ Championship, but having lost most of the advantage gained at the start of the season in the sprint stage at home Imola. Verstappen then won the race in Miami and Leclerc and Sainz climbed to the second and third steps of the podium, keeping the lead, but in the next stage in Barcelona Max and Red Bull Racing took the lead and were no longer inferior to the end of the championship.
How surprising has the alignment of forces changed in this day and age with regulations seemingly stable. Last week in Baku, Leclerc lost 21 seconds to Perez at the finish, despite the safety car closing the gaps in the first third of the race.
But still not without surprises. Last year, Sergio Perez won two races in the entire season – in Monaco and Singapore. All other victories in Red Bull Racing were won by Verstappen – there were fifteen. Now a draw – after four Grand Prix two victories for Sergio (plus the sprint win) and Max. At least some intrigue. Soon, however, it will come to naught. After all, there can only be one favourite.
We stock up on coffee. Night ahead.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
