Following an eventful weekend in Shanghai, the teams set out to America for the Miami Grand Prix.
Introduced to the calendar in 2022, the Miami Grand Prix hasn’t always been the most entertaining circuit; this is partly because Max Verstappen has dominated in his Red Bull car for the past two seasons. The circuit itself is terrific, with a couple of long straights for overtaking and satisfying series of corners. However, there has never been real drama at the circuit before until this weekend.
This past weekend marked the first time the Miami Grand Prix would be a sprint race weekend; it was also the second-straight sprint race after the dramatic festivities at the Chinese Grand Prix . This meant there were plenty of opportunities for chaos to ensue.
The first free practice session (FP1) went smoothly, besides Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc spinning and causing a momentary red flag. But prior to FP1 is when the real drama occurred. Before the sessions started Red Bull’s chief technology officer, Adrian Newey, announced he would leave the team after the season. Newey, who is responsible for designing the car and all of its massively complicated parts, has been the person mostly credited for Red Bull’s recent success. This is a huge blow to Red Bull, as things are not looking good with rumors of Verstappen considering leaving also arising.
Teams like McLaren and Aston Martin brought upgrades to Miami. Ferrari sported a partially blue livery in honor of their new title sponsorship deal with HP. This past weekend also marked the 70th anniversary of Ferrari’s presence in North America. Haas’ driver, Nico Hülkenburg, announced he would be moving to Kick Sauber at the end of the season.
Following FP1, the drivers prepared for Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon. In the first section of sprint qualifying (SQ1), there weren’t many shocking exits. However, in SQ2, both Mercedes drivers failed to reach SQ3 by a few hundredths of a second. Verstappen dominated in SQ3 and took pole position for the sprint race. However, the big news from SQ3 was that RB driver and fan favorite, Daniel Riccardo, qualified in P4. After struggling for most of the season, Riccardo had an impressive showing in sprint qualifying and was smiling ear-to-ear heading into Saturday.
The sprint race was about as eventful as it could have been, as there was drama from the very first corner. Hamilton came storming into turn one and was unable to slow his car down, colliding with both Aston Martins’ drivers. The collision spurred a chain reaction as Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll then collided with McLaren driver Lando Norris and Norris was spun around and out of the sprint race. A safety car was called out as a result of the crash and under the safety car, Stroll retired his car.
Following the restart after the safety car came in, things kicked off toward the middle of the pack. Hamilton and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen had an epic battle for the final points placing position. Magnussen had some questionable tactics that led to him receiving more than a couple of time penalties during the sprint race. Hamilton also received a time penalty for the racing he and Magnussen had done, leaving RB driver Yuki Tsunoda finishing in the final points playing position for the sprint. His teammate, Riccardo, also had a really impressive showing as he managed to keep in fourth place, taking home his first points of the season.
Following the sprint race, the teams headed into the formal grand prix qualifying session. Qualifying was pretty uneventful, apart from Riccardo having a shocking exit in Q1 after finishing in the top five of the sprint race. There weren’t many surprising exits in Q2 or Q3. Verstappen took pole position for the second time this weekend, though he did complain considerably about lack of grip in his tires throughout the qualifying sessions.
Heading into the race, it looked like Verstappen would win the Miami Grand Prix; he has won every race at the circuit. This start was not as eventful as the sprint race start, but it was even more dramatic. Like Hamilton in the sprint, Red Bull driver Sergio Perez barreled into turn one and locked up, nearly colliding with his teammate Verstappen. As a result, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri jumped from P6 all the way into third. Piastri managed to move up into P2 on lap four. Following some close calls and overtaking at the start, there wasn’t much happening in the race until lap 28.
The home fan favorite, and only American driver on the grid, Logan Sargent and Magnussen were fighting and made contact. Sargent was sent spinning backwards into a barrier and crashed out of his home Grand Prix. Sargent emerged unscathed from the crash and a safety car was subsequently called out. This massively benefited Norris and Piastri who had stayed out to try an extended stint on their medium tyres, putting both of them in prime position to score big points as Norris came out of the pits ahead of Verstappen in P1.
The safety car came back on lap 33, and Norris got off to a flying start ,quickly gaining over a second to Verstappen behind. Norris continued his blistering pace, consistently building a gap to Verstappen, something I haven’t seen anyone not driving a Red Bull do in a while. Unfortunately for Norris’ teammate, Piastri, he and Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, made contact and Piastri’s front wing broke. This meant he was forced to pit and replace it. As all this was happening, Norris continued to gain. Things were looking up for what would be the young British driver’s first win in Formula 1. Verstappen was pushing to catch Norris, but after complaining all weekend about the grip of his tires, he couldn’t catch him. Norris took first for the first time of his career as Verstappen finished second and Leclerc finished third.
Lando Norris is now officially a Grand Prix winner in Formula 1.
Norris, who previously held the record for most podium finishes without a race win in Formula 1 history (15), finally emerged victorious. He was taken out of the sprint race on lap one and had troubles all weekend, but managed to climb to what seemed an impossible summit. He was congratulated by almost the whole grid. It was clear how much the moment meant to Lando, and even though I am not a McLaren fan, I couldn’t help but feel happy for him.
The Miami Grand Prix produced some truly magical moments and I couldn’t have imagined a better start to a season I had pretty much written off from the start. I can’t wait to see where the season goes from here.
