F1 2022: Miami

This weekend, F1 made it’s return to Miami having not been to Florida since the 1950s. The track has been built within the car park of the Hard Rock Stadium, and is comprised of some fast straights and tricky chicanes.

There were some heavy shunts in practice and qualifying, with some drivers voicing their concerns that barriers were not reinforced after Sainz had a heavy collision with the wall in FP2, before Ocon crashed in exactly the same place in FP3. In other safety-related news, new regulations regarding the wearing of jewellery in the cockpit will be introduced over the coming weeks, with Lewis Hamilton in particular feeling targeted by the new rulings. The FIA will introduce a blanket ban of all jewellery and after this announcement, Hamilton turned up to a press conference laden with shiny rings, necklaces, and piercings. There’s always one..

Back on track, the two Ferraris put in great laps at the end of qualifying to beat Max Verstappen to the top spot. Verstappen appeared to experience some heavy oversteer during his last flying attempt, resulting in him taking third in his best effort. Ocon didn’t attempt any laps in qualifying after his crash, so he was automatically at the back of the grid. Zhou also had a disappointing Saturday after his best flying lap was ruined by traffic, while Magnussen could only take 15th after his first Q1 outing of 2022.

The race was very uneventful almost right up to the end: the only retirement being Zhou after a mechanical fault. The action began to unfold after Gasly went off track and rejoined, collecting Norris on his way back, sending Norris spinning and causing a safety car. As is normal, the safety car triggered quite a few pit stops and a mixture of tyre compounds throughout the field for the last few laps. In the end though, Verstappen came out on top, followed by the two Ferraris. In true American style, Verstappen was driven to the podium with a police escort, and the drivers wore NFL style helmets instead of caps on the podium..

Miami again next year?!