The new Formula 1 track in Miami lived up to the hype surrounding the Grand Prix, at least in the first free practice session around the Hard Rock Stadium, where the Miami Dolphins usually play football.
Not only because of a high-speed departure by Carlos Sainz, which ended lightly. But also because of numerous other scenes that were evidence of the difficulty of the route.
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) drove the best time in 1:31.098 minutes, followed by George Russell (Mercedes / +0.071) and Max Verstappen (+0.179). Lewis Hamilton was eighth, 0.858 seconds back.
“He braked too late”: Valtteri Bottas causes the first crash
Front and rear wings are new on the Mercedes, and although the Miami track is extremely bumpy, the W13 was calmer on the asphalt than it has ever been in the 2022 Formula 1 season. In contrast, Ferrari (only low-downforce rear wing) and Red Bull (nothing new since Imola) have not upped the ante in the development race.
The route in Miami “has it all”, was the first judgment of “Sky” expert Ralf Schumacher. In particular, the narrow and twisting combination of corners 14-16 tempts the drivers to make mistakes, while the most courageous passage is probably corner 6-8, i.e. the passage in front of the fake marina mocked on Twitter & Co., which is actually not one.
That’s exactly where Valtteri Bottas (17th / Alfa Romeo) caused the first crash of the weekend after 35 minutes on his 14th lap. At the end of the curve, which keeps closing towards the back, the Finn slipped into the barriers – and took it on himself: “Sorry, boys,” he radioed contritely. First analysis by Formula 1 expert Jenson Button: “He braked too late.”
The result should be taken with a pinch of salt this early in the weekend because the drivers and teams are a long way from reaching their limits on the new track. Still, Sainz finished sixth despite his spin with 20 minutes to go, which he was lucky not to crash into the wall; behind Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), but ahead of Alexander Albon (Williams).
The strip of asphalt, which had to be patched in part during the night from Thursday to Friday, offered the drivers little grip at the beginning of the weekend. And because everyone wanted to test as much as possible, there were quite a few misunderstandings in the heavy traffic around the Hard Rock Stadium.
Several scenes in the focus of the Formula 1 race control
Mick Schumacher (19th / Haas) once stood in the way of Daniel Ricciardo (10th / McLaren) – one of several scenes that the race control will study after the session.
Another time it was Schumacher who got in Sainz’s way. And Russell was amazed when Esteban Ocon (15th / Alpine) drove out of the pits in front of him, so that he had to slam on the brakes.
Despite everything: “It’s an interesting track,” says Red Bull team boss Christian Horner. “A bit like a mixture of Jeddah and Azerbaijan. I think one key will be controlling the high tire temperatures.”
McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl says something similar in an interview with ‘Sky’: “It’s not easy to get a lap together. The track has more bumps than expected, so we have to see to what extent we have to change the set-up, just around to get more stability into the car and then also to get the lap time down.”