Lights Out and Away We Go: The 2022 Miami Grand Prix Recap

This past weekend, the fifth Grand Prix of the season took place, on an all-new circuit in Miami. The weekend was undeniably entertaining for the fans with social media focusing on the McLaren boys strolling around the paddock with crop tops and accompanied by James Corden. Charles Leclerc repeatedly being called “Chuck Leclerc”, the NFL helmets during the podium ceremony, the police escort, and the brief and very awkward interviews of a few celebrities that went to see the race.

From left to right. Lando Norris, James Corden, Daniel Ricciardo

The Race:

Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou had to retire the car on lap 7 of the race but Valtteri Bottas was able to bring some points to the team after finishing 7^th behind his former teammate, Lewis Hamilton. The latter had a small battle during the race with his current teammate, George Russel, who managed to finish 5^th. Russel is the only driver so far this season that has finished in the top 5 in all five races so far.

George Russel

Besides Zhou, four more drivers did not finish the race. Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel collided on lap 53, with Mick missing his chance to score his first points in Formula 1, but still finishing the race with a P15, and Vettel retiring. An overall bad weekend for Haas as Kevin Magnussen also had to retire his car in lap 56. Lance Stroll finished P10, giving 1 point to the Aston Martin team.

The biggest accident of the race was between Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly, which brought out a virtual safety car, followed by a safety car for the race to resume. Lap 39 was the final lap for Norris, the lap where the crash happened, with Gasly having to retire in lap 45. Both McLaren and Alpha Tauri left Miami with no points, Yuki Tsunoda finishing P12, and Daniel Ricciardo finishing P13 after complaining that the car lacked pace on the specific circuit. Nicholas Latifi also stayed out of the points in P14, with Alex Albon scoring 2 points for the team in P9. Fernando Alonso is the last driver that was left out of the points in P11, with his teammate Esteban Ocon finishing P8.

Daniel Ricciardo

The Top 4 Battle:

At the start of the race, Max Verstappen in P3 overtook Sainz in P2. For the biggest part of the race, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz were battling for third, despite some issues in Perez’s engine in the first part of the race. In the end, Sainz kept his P3, earning some very needed points after a difficult weekend and the catastrophic result of the first lap in Imola in the previous Grand Prix which pushed him back in the driver’s championship.

Start of the race

Charles Leclerc started on pole but on lap 9, Max Verstappen overtook him for the first place. After both drivers changed tires, their difference grew to around 7.5 seconds. Once the race resumed after the safety car, Leclerc had a chance to race Verstappen as their difference disappeared, but ultimately finished P2. Ferrari was much aware that the Miami circuit benefits the Red Bull car because it has a lot and long straights, with Ferrari being faster in corners. However, during the entire race, Leclerc and Verstappen were both achieving the fastest times, meaning that the cars are equally fast but ultimately the Ferrari lacked race pace in Miami.

Max Verstappen

Leclerc is still leading the driver’s championship with 104 points, and Verstappen is second with 85 points. Without any mistakes, Leclerc will be able to continue leading the championship after the next race in Spain. The constructor’s championship is closer than the driver’s one, with Ferrari being only six points ahead of Red Bull.

Charles Leclerc

The next race is on May 22 in Spain and many teams are expected to bring many upgrades to their cars, including Ferrari. Mattia Binotto, the team principal of Ferrari is confident that the upgrades for Spain will make the F1-75 more competitive against the Red Bull car which was heavily upgraded in Imola.