‘The bigger they come, the harder they fall’ is what the old expression goes, and it looks like the 2023 Miami Grand Prix is the Formula 1 incarnation of that.
Not that the second edition of the Formula 1 adventure in Florida was a bad one – it was a marked improvement on last year – but, as with much of 2023, something seemed empty throughout the weekend. week.
I disagree with those who thought the 2023 Miami GP was a siesta feast, but I understand why they think so, especially with the sport’s levels of hype about racing in the Magic City.
The marketing for the Miami Grand Prix pushes the narrative that Liberty Media sees this as an event with the prestige of Monaco with attempts to amplify everything about it such as celebrity appearances, luxury hospitality and VIP parties.
While much of the above is lost on viewers, aside from Sir Jackie Stewart dragging Roger Federer into a pre-race interview, of course the bombastic nature of the Miami GP seems to magnify what’s missing in 2023 that much more. than what Azerbaijan: a much more boring race.
Was the Miami GP so bad?
Statistics compiled by Reddit user u/ Catchisonething show that Sunday’s 57-lap Miami showdown had more passes in a single afternoon than any other 2023 grand prix, proving the circuit had plenty of action to entertain.
However, even with an average of more than one pass per lap, the race fell short of what I can often see in F2 and F3: lots of quantity but little memorable quality.
There was a lot of overtaking in Miami as Max Verstappen made his way through the field.
That’s not to say that the overtakes weren’t well deserved passes or that the drivers’ racing prowess was at a lower level than usual.
Quite the opposite, actually, with Max Verstappen’s double pass of Kevin Magnussen and Charles Leclerc a particular highlight.
It’s just that these moves didn’t have the same impact as overtaking in a hotly contested championship fight or a race-long back-and-forth fight for the podium. Like Formula 1 in 2023, it all seemed so… inevitable.
I knew that Red Bull could go calmly towards a victory; that Verstappen has an advantage over his teammate; that Ferrari lacks race pace; Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will fight each other race by race; that Alpine will pick up the pieces behind the big four teams, and that three of those four will compete for the best of the rest award.
Why does Formula 1 suffer?
There’s no overarching story that grips me as I tune in this season, and it’s that, rather than Miami, where F1 suffered the most last weekend.
No matter how much fun it has been to watch Leclerc and Magnussen duel for 40 laps, few battles for eighth achieve the sting of a full-throttle fight for first, and certainly not when that battle for eighth is between two people who do not match and are not fit. position runners.
Yes, there was Red Bull’s internal contrarian strategy and an on-track overtake for the lead. Yet even that felt fated on lap 15 after Verstappen closed to within three seconds of Sergio Perez, who had started the race on softer tires and eight positions ahead.
Red Bull dominated the Miami Grand Prix weekend as Sergio Pérez leads Max Verstappen
For all the plaudits Perez received for his excellence in Azerbaijan, you’d have to be kidding yourself to think there would be a season-long fight between cars 1 and 11, and Miami exemplified that.
Formula 1 can’t always provide the equivalent of a 5-4 football thriller – I’ve watched races for enough decades to understand that – but it looks like 2023 will be a series of 3-0 Red Bull thrashings that only the most ardent of Formula 1 fans can expect. Milton Keynes team can enjoy.
The contrived sense of importance surrounding Miami simply meant that this run felt like a 5-0 thrashing; yes, there could be more to see, but the bottom line remains.
Only 18 more to go…
2023-05-13 22:34:23
#factor #AFFECTS #Formula
