Why the Miami GP is a central chapter of F1 2022's biggest storyline

It’s finally here – Formula 1 is heading to Miami.

As you’re reading this, paddock personnel will be settling into the newly erected facilities at the Miami International Autodrome, built around the Hard Rock stadium in Miami Gardens. On Wednesday, Lewis Hamilton will play golf with NFL legend Tom Brady. Social media will still be mystifyingly confused/amused (delete as appropriate) by the track’s simulated marina and the encased boats within.

It would be a fair appraisal to state that this is the most eagerly-awaited new F1 race for 10 years – after Austin joined the party back in 2012. That’s no disrespect to the five other new tracks that appeared on the calendar in that time. Nor to the others that returned or stepped in with a new name (and in the case of Bahrain, used an alternative layout) to get in completed seasons during the difficulties posed by the pandemic.

This time, though, there’s no new suggestion of sportwashing – beyond noting that every country F1 visits, including the USA, can be accused on of failing on specific moral standards. But there’s also an air of excitement surrounding this event, one that hasn’t really been felt since the Circuit of the Americas held its first event.

There’s just something different about America. As the West’s only remaining superpower, its business potential is clear for any industry. And F1 hasn’t always been able to secure long-term interest from the country – with all the financial and exposure benefits it can grant. With a third US race coming next year when Las Vegas takes the mantle of ‘most-eagerly awaited’, it can be safely said that F1 has cracked America.

And so, the championship’s attention, plus that of thousands of new fans – some extremely famous and likely to be attendance this weekend – will soon turn to Miami’s racing spectacle and the first F1 victory contest at a new US venue for 10 years.

Back then, the inaugural Texas event was hailed as a successful return point for F1 in the USA. It’s worth recalling now when considering what kind of race the championship might get for the latest chapter of 2022’s Ferrari vs Red Bull title battle.

Miami's F1 debut is the most eagerly-anticipated new race on the F1 calendar since Texas joined in 2012

Photo by: Sutton Images

In 2012, the same two squads were centre-stage as Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso duelled for that title – although Red Bull was commandingly clear in the constructors’ standings. The race was a cracker, with Autosport’s report noting: "Formula 1 was back in the land it should never have left".

“It was a stirring sight,” continued Mark Hughes’ report. “The pack jostling beneath the blue Texan sky, blobs of colour, sunlight glinting off bodywork and visors, off the stars and stripes atop Hamilton's helmet – the glare and glint as the gladiators put on a show for the packed grandstands... The was action everywhere, and the animated fans were spoilt for choice of where to look.”

The F1 organisation – a keen enhancer of the hype surrounding the Miami event – will hope for repeated scenes this weekend. Then, the extremely fragile nature of the era’s Pirelli rubber created close racing across the field at COTA. But tyres – inevitably, F1 hasn’t changed that much in a decade – are going to be key to the outcome of this new event too.

Their expected performance also ties into one of the chief storylines of the season so far.

The low-drag versus tyre-management requirements in Miami may well be the key difference in the victory fight if – and that’s a big if – Ferrari’s updates can indeed negate Red Bull’s previous top speed edge

The 3.36-mile Miami track bears considerable similarities to the high-speed, walled, ‘street track’ (both are purpose-built circuits) layout used in Jeddah. There in March, Max Verstappen defeated Charles Leclerc by using the superior top-speed of his RB18’s lower-downforce, lower-drag configuration to make the crucial DRS-assisted pass.

Back in 2012, end-of-straight speed was a Red Bull weakness, which led to Vettel’s eventual defeat against the relentlessly charging Hamilton – aiming to end his McLaren days with one final famous triumph. That was after encountering Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT at an inopportune place, allowing the McLaren to get within DRS range and then into the lead – the overtaking aid, which will be useable at three zones around the Miami track, as much maligned and discussed these days as it was back then…

But Ferrari is set to bring a more “efficient” downforce package to Miami – per team boss Mattia Binotto. This is to engage Red Bull’s own skinnier and svelte rear wing package. This gave Verstappen superior straight-line speed in Jeddah, but not at the cost of greater tyre wear – as Ferrari had incorrectly anticipated.

Miami is set to bear some similarities to the Jeddah track where Verstappen out-duelled Leclerc

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Pirelli reckons the new Miami surface will offer good grip from the off as it has been jet-washed recently. So, there will likely be no need for Ferrari to so brilliantly, and unsportingly, break a gearbox seal on Carlos Sainz’s car to get Leclerc onto the grippier side of the grid as it did at Austin with Felipe Massa in 2012 – not that it would anyway at such an early stage of the season, and that’s assuming the Spaniard can out-qualify his team-mate for the first time in 2022.

Tyre wear is expected to be pretty moderate this weekend. That, plus Pirelli opting for what its motorsport boss Mario Isola calls a “conservative” selection of the C2-C4 compounds, should edge Ferrari and Red Bull towards their lowest-drag set-ups. But the key test will be how best their respective drivers can keep the rubber alive through the technical sequence from Turns 11-16 at Miami – an area with slower, twisting corners that differs significantly from anything on offer in Jeddah.

Ferrari was undone by unexpected graining at Imola, as Red Bull was the race before in Melbourne. The low-drag versus tyre-management requirements in Miami may well be the key difference in the victory fight if – and that’s a big if – Ferrari’s updates can indeed negate Red Bull’s previous top speed edge.

If you want one more Austin 2012 comparison, there Ferrari also struggled to get its tyres working on the smooth surface, which nearly cost Alonso against Kimi Raikkonen in their mid-race fight for third (which Alonso eventually won, aided by a long Lotus stop). For a bonus, back in 2012 Red Bull was struggling with a recurring alternator issue, which put Mark Webber out of that race. For 2022 that could read Red Bull’s fuel system failures from the early rounds…

Ferrari’s Miami update is not set to be a definitive overhaul of the F1-75 – which is so far largely the same as it was in testing. How the Scuderia matches Red Bull’s development – already showing fine results with the lighter, better RB18 on display last time out in Italy – is another of the 2022’s main storylines.

But the progress it has made in tackling Red Bull’s speed advantage will be a key factor in the outcome of F1’s latest birth in the USA.

Ferrari will hope that updates introduced to the car for Miami will have the same effect as those which helped Verstappen to win at Imola

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images