Photo: YouTube / Formula 1
It's that time in the F1 calendar when the world's biggest circus finally reaches the USA, with the first stop being the Miami GP. And as the weekend develops, the first two practice sessions reveal some concerning findings both for the Grand Prix itself and for the rest of the season.
First, let's discuss what the free practice sessions showed we could expect to see during the main racing event. During both FP1 and FP2, fans were able to see multiple drivers lose control of their cars, which led to the unfortunate circumstance of red flags being deployed in both sessions.
This might not sound like a big deal considering it's not as dramatic as it would be if it happened during qualifying or the Grand Prix, but it still has profound implications. The free practice session offers teams a chance to get to grips with track conditions and devise the best possible setup and strategy for the main race. With the hindrance caused by the two red flags, teams had much less time at their disposal to gather crucial information.
Then there's the elephant in the room, the simple fact that so many drivers had difficulties navigating the track. It was turns 3 and 17 (the hairpin) in particular that saw many drivers up and down the field make mistakes. But that's not to say drivers did not lose control of their cars elsewhere, with Charles Leclerc bringing out the second of the two red flags after a snap of oversteer sent him careening into the barriers of turn 7.
And practice sessions are indeed meant for the drivers to push their cars and find the limits of grip, but it's a rare occurrence to see so many incidents during free practice runs. This kind of chaos hints at the probability that the levels of grip at the Miami GP are not excellent, something that Sergio Perez confirmed after the first practice session.
Granted, the track will get "rubbered in" as cars run more laps, at least for the race, but there's only one practice session left until qualifying. And if the levels of grip seen so far are any indication of what we can expect, the three qualifying rounds will be enjoyable. But it's the race that will likely provide entertaining chaos if conditions don't improve drastically within the subsequent few sessions.
Despite the unfortunate event, both Ferraris managed to secure P2 and P3, respectively, on the second session's timing sheets, with the session unsurprisingly topped by Max Verstappen. Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso rounded up the top five, followed by Lando Norris, who seemed much happier and more in control of his McLaren following the upgrades brought by the team in Azerbaijan.
But there's one more thing Formula 1 fans learned from the first two Miami GP practice sessions concerning Red Bull's two main rivals, Ferrari and Mercedes. Both Mercedes drivers, along with Carlos Sainz, elected to take new Control Electronics and Energy Storage units for this week.
And the bad news here is that only two of each of those units are allowed per driver during the season, a limit both teams have now reached, as Leclerc used his second CE component in the second race of the season. Such a development means that if this reliability trend keeps going, grid drops are more than likely, making Red Bull's lead even more comfortable.
[YOUTTUBE=https://youtu.be/6iJNV3EBuUA]
This might not sound like a big deal considering it's not as dramatic as it would be if it happened during qualifying or the Grand Prix, but it still has profound implications. The free practice session offers teams a chance to get to grips with track conditions and devise the best possible setup and strategy for the main race. With the hindrance caused by the two red flags, teams had much less time at their disposal to gather crucial information.
Then there's the elephant in the room, the simple fact that so many drivers had difficulties navigating the track. It was turns 3 and 17 (the hairpin) in particular that saw many drivers up and down the field make mistakes. But that's not to say drivers did not lose control of their cars elsewhere, with Charles Leclerc bringing out the second of the two red flags after a snap of oversteer sent him careening into the barriers of turn 7.
And practice sessions are indeed meant for the drivers to push their cars and find the limits of grip, but it's a rare occurrence to see so many incidents during free practice runs. This kind of chaos hints at the probability that the levels of grip at the Miami GP are not excellent, something that Sergio Perez confirmed after the first practice session.
Granted, the track will get "rubbered in" as cars run more laps, at least for the race, but there's only one practice session left until qualifying. And if the levels of grip seen so far are any indication of what we can expect, the three qualifying rounds will be enjoyable. But it's the race that will likely provide entertaining chaos if conditions don't improve drastically within the subsequent few sessions.
Despite the unfortunate event, both Ferraris managed to secure P2 and P3, respectively, on the second session's timing sheets, with the session unsurprisingly topped by Max Verstappen. Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso rounded up the top five, followed by Lando Norris, who seemed much happier and more in control of his McLaren following the upgrades brought by the team in Azerbaijan.
But there's one more thing Formula 1 fans learned from the first two Miami GP practice sessions concerning Red Bull's two main rivals, Ferrari and Mercedes. Both Mercedes drivers, along with Carlos Sainz, elected to take new Control Electronics and Energy Storage units for this week.
And the bad news here is that only two of each of those units are allowed per driver during the season, a limit both teams have now reached, as Leclerc used his second CE component in the second race of the season. Such a development means that if this reliability trend keeps going, grid drops are more than likely, making Red Bull's lead even more comfortable.
[YOUTTUBE=https://youtu.be/6iJNV3EBuUA]
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