[Official] Miami Grand Prix 2023: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 5 of 23

[Born Racer]

With the United States boasting its own motorsport pedigree, legacy and traditions, for a long time F1 seemed a foreigner of sorts on its soil – an outsider taking its own circus to town, and with some fantastic and memorable events at times, but never making any major inroads into the American psyche. A big push in the country since the arrival of Liberty Media, however, has allowed the US to become an integral part of F1's plans. In 2023, with Miami, Austin and Las Vegas, Formula 1 will host three races in the USA for the first time since 1982, when the Long Beach, Detroit and Las Vegas were all run.


The history

Some of the earliest racing in Florida began in 1926, when the AAA (American Automobile Association) ran an event on a board track, the Fulford-Miami Speedway, which was a banked oval using wooden planks. The name was the Carl G.Fisher Trophy Race and the victor of the 300-mile event was Pete DePaolo in a Dusenberg. The circuit was destroyed in a hurricane a mere seven months later. The name of 'Grand Prix of Miami' has been attributed to this in various places on the net, but I could find no source which confirmed this to not be erroneous. The 'Grand Prix of Miami' designation was, however, used for IMSA, Grand Am and Indycar.

In Formula 1 terms, though, Florida, in fact, hosted the first United States Grand Prix to count for the championship, with the exception of the Indy 500 (which featured from 1950 to 1960), when a race was run at Sebring in 1959. Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss and the recently-departed Tony Brooks all entered the events in title contention. Moss led away off the start, while Brooks was hit by Wolfgang von Trips. Moss retired on Lap 5 with a transmission failure. There was a strange climax of the race when Brabham had some problems and waved Bruce McLaren through, who upon seeing the other Cooper slow, lifted himself, only just speeding up in time to take over first and keep the lead over Maurice Trintignant who was runner-up in his Cooper. Brooks just beat Brabham to the podium, but the Australian was drivers' champion and Cooper constructors' champions. The race was also unusual for seeing the Kurtis Kraft-Offenhauser midget of Rodger Ward take part. The event was a financial failure, though, and the promoter took the event to Riverside in California the following season.

Plans were afoot for a Miami downtown race earlier this century with the Biscayne Boulevard area touted, but these came to nothing (but an F1 Fan Festival there), and in 2019 the new plans were announced.

Max Verstappen won the inaugural Grand Prix, from pole man Charles Leclerc and the latter's Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.


The track
The circuit, Miami International Autodrome, is set around the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL's Miami Dolphins, and features a 5.412 km layout, with 19 turns and three DRS zones.

Turn 1 is a slow 90-degree right, before the track segues into a faster and more flowing section, with the left at 2 and long Turn 3, before drivers bring the car to the right in order to chuck it into the fast left-hander Turn 4, which is swiftly followed by the switch to 5, before the triple-apex 6, 7 and 8 complex brings us to the end of Sector 1. There's the potential for a number of lines here as they approach the end of this complex, perhaps hugging the inside or keeping it to the right for 8, and the risk of a lock-up as braking is completed under turning, as at Sakhir.

Now it's all fast sweepers before the big stop at Turn 11 with the 90-left and then the more curved 12 before dipping into 13. Climbing uphill into the clumsy 14 and 15 left-right chicane, drivers meet the crest and then speed downhill towards the more 90-left at 16. This takes them into Sector 3 and after a massive straight and a big stop at 17, the quicker 18 and 19 vault them back onto the start-finish straight.

Last year saw a medium-hard one-stop strategy deployed by most, with teams not choosing to pit under a late safety car (due to the difficulty in overtaking). What was a very soft track has also been resurfaced.




Other information

Circuit length: 5.412 km
Number of laps: 57
Race distance: 308.326 km
Race lap record: 1:31.361 (Max Verstappen - Red Bull Honda - 2022)
Dry weather tyre compounds: C2, C3 & C4
First Miami Grand Prix: 2022

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