Miami GP: The Iconic Hardrock Stadium and Formula 1 came together for the first time ever in the history of F1 and welcomed Formula 1 fans into the arena as we welcome our readers in this new edition of our Formula 1 series. After Imola GP, this was the most hyped event on the F1 calendar.
Miami GP, otherwise known as Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2022 marked the first of the two races scheduled in the USA this season. When one looks at the massive turnout of the fans this season not just in person but also streaming in to watch live races at both cosy and odd hours of the day, they would realise how far has F1 reached and what positive impact this beautiful sport is promoting diversity, is leaving and standing true to their prevalent belief “We Race As One”.
The robust and overwhelming success of the Miami GP has now set expectations for the hype “Vegas, Baby!” in 2023. Fans undoubtedly had had the best of this Miami race weekend. It was star-studded all throughout. Few that we mention are: for example, the excellent likes of 7-time NFL Super Bowl champion, Tom Brady was there; the Williams sister duo, who collectively have 30 Grand Slams (Singles), Venus Williams and Serena Williams were seen observing the race from the Mercedes garage; the NBA stars, Michael Jordan to LeBron James were also seen in the pit lane during the weekend. The former first lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama was also seen supporting the Mercedes garage too and kept a low profile throughout.
Starting with the Free Practise 1 on Friday, it was much anticipated for the defending Contructor’s Champions, Mercedes as they brought upgrades to their cars in the form of including a new low downforce rear wing, revised front wing and beam wing and at the end of the session, George Russell for Mercedes was only +0.071 seconds behind the current driver leading the 2022 Driver’s Championship, Charles Leclerc, who topped FP1 and the third spot was filled by Max Verstappen followed by his teammate Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly in P5, showing yet another impressive straight-line speeds of the Red Bull Powertrains. The final free practise session FP3, saw both the Red Bulls of Checo and Max take P1 and P3 while Charles split them for P2.
The qualifying got heated right from the start as the drives pushed to limits and purple sectors were set in the first couple of laps. The pole was taken by Charles Leclerc who put together a lap which counted and did take the pole at the chequered flag. It was a Ferrari 1-2 with Carlos Sainz Jr., taking P2. Max made a mistake in the final run of his qualifying lap and had to correct it midway which lost him time but he had done enough to comfortably place his Red Bull at P3 followed by his teammate, Checo in P4 followed by Valterri in his Alfa Romeo and his former teammate, Lewis, qualified P6.
The only driver not to take part in the qualifying was Esteban Ocon as he crashed his Alpine during one of the practice sessions but was allowed to race even without setting a qualifying time at the steward’s discretion.
Following the events of qualifying, the lights went out on the Sunday of May 8, 2022, in the afternoon. As the race unfolded, we saw Charles leading the race till lap 9 of 57, post which he lost the lead of the race in the straight line to Max who breezed past him taking advantage of the straight-line speeds they currently are enjoying with minimal or almost no porpoising. Max was enjoying the comfortable lead till a late crash between Pierre and Lando, which saw Lando spinning on track and losing his right rear tyre as it ripped off from his car when Pierre hit him from behind which was a racing accident, if not anything else and saw both the drivers retire from the race. Pierre was anyways having a bad race after he got hit by Fernando Alonso and started noticing issues with his Alpha Tauri and Alonso received a 5 seconds penalty which kicked him off the top 10. This first brought out the VSC and then was converted to a full safety car which re-ignited the race. Max up until then would have cruised to a comfortable victory.
The lap 41 restart saw a lot of action as Charles and Max battled it out on track for P1 which saw Max emerging victorious with those solid defences. Charles did the best he could have while challenging max on the race restart after the safety car. He managed P2 while his teammate drove brilliantly to P3, holding off the threat from the charging Red Bull of Checo who took P4. One driver who benefitted from the safety car was George who started on the hard tyres from P11 the safety car just came out in the pit window for George and he sped past the 7-time World Champion and his current teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Valterri would have come home in his Alfa Romeo at P5 but a mistake at the straight end saw him locking up and running too deep in the corner and thus allowing Geroge and Lewis to move up a position, each. Geroge and Lewis finished P5 & P6 simultaneously. And with this, George has by far been the most consistent driver in 2022 to finish in the top 5 in all 6 races so far this season.
The top 10 of the grid was shaken up by some penalties and a last-minute on-track battle for positions after the safety car was called in on lap 46 and the race was resumed from lap 41. This is how the remaining the top 10 finished:
Another driver who has been unlucky yet consistent is Alex Albon. He has continued his impressive form by finishing in the points on P9 from P18 for Williams at Miami after he got unlucky in the Imola GP by getting caught in the DRS train even after he was the first driver to switch to yellow marked slicks (the medium compound tire) after the race started on the green marked tires, also called Intermediates. He cheekily mentioned his “red” hair as the superstition behind the points finish.
For round 6, Formula 1 moves to Spain for the Spanish Grand Prix, which takes place over 66 laps of the 4.675-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday, May 22, 2022. The news that is out in the world of Formula 1 is that current Formula E champion, Nyck De Vries, who is one of the drivers for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team will be driving the Williams, FW-44 of Alex Albon in the first Free Practise Session (FP1). We shall cover more of this in the upcoming Spanish GP blog soon.
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