Miami Grand Prix 2022 Race Preview
Excitement for the Miami Grand Prix is finally coming to a head as the work week ends. For the first time, fans of Formula One in the United States will have the opportunity to sleep in and enjoy an exciting race, with the start time being 2:30 pm CST for the race on Sunday.
Speaking of start times, I would like to share a fantastic website that allows you to see the schedule for your specific time zone! Incredibly helpful for scheduling an enjoyable race weekend. Here it is https://f1calendar.com/ (Bookmark it!).
Miami Baby!
This weekend's events in Miami will be the first time Miami has had the opportunity to host a Formula One race. In preparation for this event, Miami has built an entirely new track around the Miami Hard Rock Stadium. The keyword here is “new”, it will not only be new for the viewer but also for the drivers as well. This newness will play an incredibly important role in making this weekend one of the most exciting on the schedule this year. Driver skills will be tested more here than at a majority of the other race weekends on the schedule.
The Miami International Autodrome will play host to this weekend's racing events and promises to display some enjoyable and tight racing. The circuit boasts a 3.36-mile track with 19 corners and 3 DRS zones that promise to keep racing tight and allow for overtaking opportunities. The most potent of these overtaking zones will be the three straights that have been implemented into the track. Expect to see the Red Bull and Ferraris showing their straight-line speed early and often throughout the race. It is shaping up to be fascinating to see how the two front-runners perform in the humid and warm tropical Miami climate.
The editors at the Hirschhorn Herald have taken the liberty of watching a variety of simulated laps around the Miami International Autodrome and will be sharing their analysis in this article as well as on the associate YouTube channel "Get in the Car F1"(click here to be linked to the channel and race preview).
The Hirschhorn Herald’s race analysis team headed by Cole Hirschhorn and Ian Menge has concluded that while the DRS zones and straights will provide opportunities for overtakes, they will be difficult to pull off. The track itself appears to be quite narrow through many of the corners, this will in theory force the drivers to look for certain turns and straights as overtaking zones.
Racingnews365.com interviewed Valteri Bottas, Alfa Romeos frontman, this week and he seemed to harbor similar feelings about the track, expecting it to be “really good for overtaking”. It appears that in Valteri’s mind the straights and DRS zones will be sufficient in providing incredible racing.
Let’s hope the DRS zones can open early and we see a bit more of an exciting affair than Imola.
Team Breakdowns
With the results from Imola in the books and the exciting Miami GP just around the corner, it is important to look at the implications this race will hold for the rest of the season, as well as examine how the season has gone so far.
The Top Dogs
Ferrari and Red Bull have distanced themselves from the pack in the early stages of the season. With Ferrari launching itself into an excellent position during the first stages with Charles Leclerc winning both the Bahrain and Australian GPs. However, the response from Verstappen and Red Bull to answer with two race victories of their own in Saudi Arabia and Imola must be concerning to the Scuderia.
Both team's second drivers Carlos Sainz for Ferrari and Sergio “Checo” Perez for Red Bull have had very different seasons so far. Carlos Sainz started the season looking competitive albeit well behind his teammate Charles in pace, managing to pull off a second-place finish in Bahrain and a third-place finish in Saudi Arabia. The Australian and Imola GPs however were both utter disasters for the Spanish driver as he was knocked out the first lap of both.
These mistakes have allowed Red Bull to quickly close the gap in both the constructors and drivers' championships. Carlos Sainz will need to perform well and survive this week's race if he hopes to remain competitive with Charles and not be seen as the “secondary driver” at Ferrari.
Sergio Perez has seemingly taken a step up this year in terms of performance. The only thing that has managed to slow Checo is engine troubles at Red Bull. Managing to take his first-ever pole position this year at the Saudi Arabian GP was an extremely impressive performance from an incredibly experienced driver. If he can continue this form, he may very well have the opportunity to strike for a driver championship or at minimum assist greatly in granting Max his second title in as many years.
Overall, the stage is set for a battle between the two forerunners Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, it should be fascinating to see how the battle unfolds throughout this season. Can Ferrari continue its return to glory, or will Red Bull continue its fast improvements and show Ferrari that the Bull truly is superior.
The Mid-Field (McLaren, Mercedes, and Haas)
The mid-field this season has been a fascinating revolving door of teams. In my view the mid-field is as follows McLaren sits atop the mid-field with Alpine, Mercedes, and Haas hot on its heels.
The McLaren conundrum is an odd one to analyze. Lando Norris appears to be performing consistent with what we have seen out of him in previous seasons at McLaren. Outperforming his teammate and seemingly pushes the car to limits even his race engineers did not believe possible. On the other hand, Daniel Ricardo’s slide into irrelevancy seems to have picked up momentum, unfortunately. Daniel Ricardo just does not seem to have the same juice he once showed up on the track with each and every week. He seems almost content in his position behind Lando and has made very little progress in closing the gap with his teammate. This is discouraging to see for McLaren fans who were hoping to have gained one of the most complete and exciting drivers on the grid following the signing of Danny Ric. This weekend will be very important for McLaren if they wish to show they have an opportunity to break into the top dogs this season.
Mercedes has had an interestingly uncharacteristic season so far. Hamilton looks completely out of sync with the car he has been given and has been consistently outperformed by newcomer George Russel. One of the most shocking things about the Mercedes car is their lack of grasp on the porpoising issue. Video of Lewis Porpoising at Imola. Many of the other teams that struggled with this issue during the first few weeks of the season have seemingly solved the problem, yet the Merc team has been unable to solve it as of yet.
The Miami GP will be very important for Mercedes to at least show they are making progress towards better performance. It will be important soon for Lewis to re-establish himself as the leading driver at Mercedes, as Russel has consistently outperformed him so far this year. Without some form of reestablishment, our next article may be questioning Hamilton and Russel’s roles on the team this year.
Haas has been an enjoyable surprise this year. Following two abysmal seasons at the end of the previous regulations Haas has completely turned the ship around, and for the first time in a long time, it appears to be facing the right direction.
The addition of Kevin Magnusson following the removal of Nikkita Mazepin has proved to be one of the most successful driver changes of the young season. KMag has slotted perfectly back into the Haas garage and has been at the forefront of the teams’ successes so far this season. His aggressive style and clear ability to get the best out of the car this season has been by far my favorite story line of this season so far. He is deserving of an F1 seat and I am happy to see him performing well with Haas, a team he has a history with.
Mick Schumacher on the other hand has been nothing short of a disappointment throughout the first four races. He is consistently getting out qualified and as a result, outperformed by Kevin Magnusson. This does not bode well for the future of the young driver. He will need to begin to show improvement and an ability to compete with Kevin Magnusson if he hopes to continue his rise through the Formula One ranks.
My hopes for Haas this week are to cleanup race strategy and get Kevin Magnusson in the position he is deserving of. The team has messed up the last two races' pit windows which have caused the Haas team to lose a substantial number of points they were deserving of. I hope that as the team continues to improve, they will fix these issues and truly become contenders for the “best of the rest”. It is my true heartfelt belief that we could see a Haas on the podium this year. That would truly be a sight to behold for all American Formula One fans.
Additionally, any extra points from Mick Schumacher would be incredibly helpful for Haas in the constructors. With Haas losing its main sponsor this year it will be important for them to secure funding for the future and show they are a team worthy of investment.
The Bleak Bottom (Aston Martin, Williams)
What is Aston Martin doing? That is the question on so many Formula One fans minds coming into this week's race at the Miami Autodrome. The sleek-looking green cars have been incredibly awful throughout this season so far. Lance Stroll is showing the F1 world once again how undeserving he is of his seat with clear driver violations in two races already this season. It's frustrating as a viewer to see a team that is seemingly so dysfunctional.
Simply put the car is slow and unreliable, the absolute worse combination a team can have. The team’s premier driver Sebastian Vettel has shown signs of serious displeasure with the team and the team's car. As seen in his DNF at the Australian GP Vettel's Australia Crash Radio. It is tough to watch such an inspirational and impressive driver be put in such a noncompetitive car.
This week in Miami look for Aston Martin to try and improve its position and work its way into the midfield. Not Stroll though, that guy just sucks.
Williams is a bit of a conundrum; Alex Albon looks like he is very comfortable in the car and as a result, has managed to pull off some decent finishes with it. Albon managed to finish in P10 at the Australian GP with only one stop at the end of the race. He put in a stint of 57 laps on a single set of tires to complete the fantastic drive. This strategy was unorthodox but very much showed the skill of their new young driver.
Nicholas Latifi on the other hand has shown that he may very well be the least deserving of an F1 seat in the grid. The guy is constantly complaining about the car and has shown no improvement. All this guy does is cost you more money than he is worth Williams. Get rid of him. I’m ready for the midseason switch. Oscar Piastri sure looks attractive, although it appears his spot next year at Alfa Romeo will be warm, with Zhou likely heading to Williams.
Look for Albon to impress and Latifi to ruin the car somehow this weekend in Miami.
Weekend Preview Wrap Up
The Miami Grand Prix looks to be one of the most exciting races of the 2022 Formula One season. Best of all, you won’t have to set up an alarm before sunrise to catch any of the action (if you live in the U.S.).
The battle for the top between Red Bull and Ferrari looks to heat up this weekend as the teams have never been closer to one another in terms of points this season. Sainz will look to improve his standing in Ferrari and have a clean race. Points are what Ferrari needs and Sainz will be important in providing them throughout the season. The Hirschhorn Herald is pulling for Sainz this weekend and hopes to see him complete a race!
The mid-field battle should be a spicy one this weekend. With a lot of teams still fighting for the title of best of the rest, this race should provide some answers to the reliability problems, so many of the mid-field teams have been struggling with. It will be interesting to see how teams account for the hot and humid weather that is forecasted for this weekend's race.
The bottom barrel teams are projected to continue in their struggles this weekend, however, Alex Albon seems to be a shining beacon of hope down there. Keep your eye on him, he is an impressive driver and is very marketable. His time at Williams will be short so enjoy him schooling the back of the grid this season.
Most importantly, enjoy the race and spend time with your family. Let’s continue the growth of F1 in the United States with this new very cool venue.
Author: Cole Hirschhorn
Sources:
RacingNews365. “Why F1 Could Be Set for an Overtaking Frenzy at Miami.” RacingNews365, RacingNews365, 3 May 2022, https://racingnews365.com/why-f1-could-be-set-for-an-overtaking-frenzy-at-miami.
“The Circuit.” Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, 5 Apr. 2022, https://f1miamigp.com/the-circuit/.