Formula 1 News: 2024 Miami GP Preview

Formula One action moves to the United States this weekend for the 3rd edition of the Miami GP after enthralling races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Japan and China. Miami made an extravagant debut on the F1 calendar in 2022 and it promises to be bigger and better this weekend.

There will nonetheless be a slightly different flavor to the Miami Grand Prix in 2024, as F1 Sprint will be run at the event for the first time.

It follows on from the first 2024 edition of F1 Sprint at the previous round of the season in China, marking the second of six appearances this year for the format.

The weekend also marks the second round of the 2024 F1 Academy and a home event for Chloe Chambers – the 19-year-old American racer who represents MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in the series. Chambers, who competes with Campos Racing, current sits sixth in the Drivers’ Standings after the opening round in Saudi Arabia in March.

The Miami International Autodrome located within the famous Hard Rock stadium grounds.

The Miami Grand Prix takes place at the Miami International Autodrome, which navigates its way through the campus of the Hard Rock Stadium, located in Miami Gardens. Event organizers have leveraged the available space around the Hard Rock Stadium to create a 5.4km circuit that features several high-speed sections, a tricky off-camber slow-speed section, and a handful of full-throttle blasts where overtaking is possible. The proximity of the walls, and the lack of grip off-line, adds to the challenge for drivers, while the circuit’s infrequent use means track evolution through the weekend is high.

The 65,000-seater stadium itself is home to the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins, tennis’ Miami Open, and is now the backdrop to the Miami Grand Prix. The football pitch is repurposed into the Team Village, where team hospitality suites are located for the weekend, surrounded by the impressive structure, while spectators can watch from the 300 level and keep an eye on the inner workings of the sport.

Miami is F1’s 11th different venue in the U.S.A and after making an epic debut last year, it has certainly become one of the most anticipated races in the F1 calendar.

The Miami Grand Prix is the first of three trips to the United States in 2024 for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, with Austin (October 18-20) and Las Vegas (November 21-23) to be tackled once summer has long slipped into fall. For now, the focus is on springtime in the southern tip of the Sunshine State, and the third running of the Miami Grand Prix.

The circuit has been designed in conjunction with Formula 1 officials in order to create the best fast and flowing layout, as well as offering maximum opportunities for racing, with three DRS zones located around the track.

The start/finish line and pit lane will be located adjacent to the Hard Rock Stadium, where the likes of Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones and U2 once played, and which will now reverberate to the sound of Formula 1 machinery. Formula 1 is ready to thrive in ‘The 305’.

Fact File: Miami Grand Prix

The 5.412 km Miami International Autodrome became the 11th track to host a Grand Prix in the USA when it first appeared on the calendar in 2022.

It became the 76th different venue to host a Formula One Grand Prix.

The track in Miami ranks high in terms of top speeds achieved comparative with other circuits; only Monza, the Circuit Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico and Las Vegas expected to see higher top speeds this season.

Miami – together with Baku – is among the highest circuits for drag sensitivity. Cars can reach a maximum speed of over 330km/h while accelerating down the back straight.

Several small tweaks were made to the track between its first race in 2022 and the second edition last year. These included the track being resurfaced with a new aggregate ahead of 2023, offering improved grip for the drivers with the aim of increasing overtaking opportunities.

Along with Austria and Las Vegas, Miami has the highest number of heavy braking events on the calendar with three.

2024 will be the first time Miami has hosted a Sprint race weekend on the F1 calendar. After the previous race in China, this will be the second of six Sprint races in 2024.

USA TV Schedule

All Times Eastern

Last Year’s winner – Max Verstappen

Miami is always one of the most physical tracks, especially with the heat and humidity, but we are looking forward to the challenge this weekend.

It’s an interesting circuit with a real mix of corners and long straights, so it will be critical to extract learnings from the car where we can over the weekend.

The track is good for racing, with some high speed sections, so it makes it more interesting with this being the second Sprint race in a row.

It is always a busy weekend on and off the track for the Team and we have had some good memories at this track; Miami doesn’t disappoint in creating a fun and exciting atmosphere for the fans. I will be looking forward to racing in my new special edition USA helmet this weekend and wearing the design that reflects the fans’ passion for the sport.

What’s the track like?

The 5.412 km venue is located around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, featuring 19 corners, 12 left-handers and seven right. The layout is interesting, because it features many low and high-speed corners, but not very many in the mid-range. There are also several long straights and three DRS zones.

Because the slow corners are often followed by long straights, low-speed traction on corner exits will be important and a compromise is required with the car set-up. You want a high ride height with high downforce for the fast corners early on, a low drag set-up for the long straights and then a lower ride height with a high downforce level for the twisty sections. So, you must weigh up where the priorities are and what will get you the most lap time.

The sectors are all quite different. Sector one is dominated by faster, sweeping turns, while the second includes more of the slower turns. Sector three is dominated by the long back straight and the hairpin. Track evolution on the new surface is likely to be high, so lap times will be tumbling as the weekend progresses.

Surprisingly, the track’s characteristics share a few similarities with venues like Barcelona, in that the high-speed corners are early in the lap, therefore heating up the tires, and the end of the lap features twisty corners where the hot tires suffer – as there is no grip left. However, tire overheating might be a bit easier than in Barcelona, due to Miami’s long straights.

Track Insight

• Strategy: C2, C3 and C4 tires have been allocated for this weekend, the same as last year’s Miami Grand Prix. A one-stop strategy was the preferred strategy in 2022, although, at approximately 20 seconds, the pit-loss to change tires at the Miami International Autodrome is below the season average.
• Safety Cars: The 2022 race featured one Safety Car and one Virtual Safety Car. There are plenty of walls and barriers close to the track increasing the likelihood of an interruption during the race.
• Overtaking: There are three DRS zones, the first two of which have been shortened by 75 meters last year. Starting 9th, Max Verstappen passed polesitter Sergio Perez in last year’s race and won by 5.3s.  Turn 11 is the preferred spot for passing.

• Turns Six, Seven and Eight are a tricky combination of consecutive left-handers that flow into each other. Getting braking right on entry for this sequence is difficult, and the exit is just as important with a long, full-throttle run spanning all the way to Turn 13.
• Turn 13 might not look like much on paper, but it is deceptively tricky. It is slightly uphill, awkwardly cambered, and leads into a very tight, slow chicane. Large amounts of time can be lost in this sequence, which is far from ideal, as the longest straight on the circuit is shortly after this area of the track.
• At the end of the long straight is Turn 17. Cars will decelerate from 325 to 67 km/h in under 100 meters in this heavy braking zone. The corner opens up on exit, and defending out of it is far from easy through Turns 18 and 19 and down the start-finish straight, especially with a DRS zone aiding overtaking into Turn One

How does 12 month of not using the track influence a Grand Prix weekend?

Pirelli’s Perspective on Miami GP

• There will definitely be something new on the podium at the Miami Grand Prix. Whether that will be a driver is hard to say as once again Max Verstappen will be a firm favorite for victory, having already won twice before in Florida. Irrespective of which three drivers are up there, they will all be wearing a special edition of the Podium Cap which Pirelli supplies to the top three finishers and the representative of the winning team. The cap’s turquoise color takes its inspiration from the waters that border the city’s beaches, featuring a stylized palm tree, an obvious Miami emblem, as well as the stars and stripes of the United States flag.The Miami Grand Prix is the sixth round of the season, the first of three to be held in the United States of America. Running from 3 to 5 May, it is the third edition of this race which first appeared on the calendar in 2022. The temporary street circuit flows around the Hard Rock Stadium, a multipurpose venue which is home to the Miami Dolphins American Football team and this year it will also host, among other events, the final of football’s Copa America. The Formula 1 team areas are actually located within the facility which creates a truly unique atmosphere for a Grand Prix weekend.The 5.412 kilometer-long track, which the drivers will tackle 57 times on Sunday, features 19 corners, three straights, three DRS zones and top speeds can exceed 340 km/h. There are also some elevation changes, the main one being between turns 13 and 16, with the track rising and falling as it goes over an exit ramp and under various overpasses. There’s an uphill approach to the chicane at turns 14 and 15, with a crest in the middle before the track drops away on the exit.The three sectors are each different in character, making for a lap that has a bit of everything. The first part boasts a run of eight high-speed corners, while the second sector has a long straight and a few low speed turns. The final run to the finish line consists of a straight and three flowing corners. There are only two races on which to base statistics, and they suggest the Miami Grand Prix is midfield when it comes to the number of overtaking moves. As for the forces, both lateral and longitudinal, to which the tires are subjected, it rates as one of the medium to low tracks on the calendar.

  The three dry tire compounds chosen by Pirelli for this round are in the midrange: C2 as Hard C3 as Medium and C4 as Soft. The track was resurfaced before last year’s race and is very smooth, therefore offering quite low grip, a feature compounded by the fact it is not used for any other motorsport events. This leads to a very significant track evolution and graining could put in an appearance, particularly with the Medium and Soft tires.

  Miami enjoys a tropical climate with air temperature usually exceeding 25°C, very often hitting 30°C, the record being 33°C. In the first ten days of May, it is usually sunny, but there can be a weather build up leading to showers or thunderstorms one day out of two or three. The wind is a sea breeze with gusts of up to 50 km/h. The average number of days in May when the temperature exceeds 30°C has gone up from 13 days in the Nineties to 23 in the past decade. Last year, the track surface hit 55 °C, one of the highest figures seen all season.

  In terms of strategy, the Miami Grand Prix is a classic one-stop race, with Hard and Medium compounds the outright favorites. Last year, Verstappen started from ninth on the grid on Hard tires before switching to Mediums, while the other two drivers who made it to the podium, Perez and Alonso, went the other way (Medium then Hard).

  This is another Sprint weekend, therefore, with only one hour of free practice on Friday morning to try and find the best set-up as well as evaluating tire behavior. Right from the afternoon of the first day, it’s time for Sprint Qualifying, to establish the grid for Saturday morning’s Sprint Race. After that, the parc fermé regulations are briefly suspended so that teams can work on the cars for qualifying and then Sunday’s traditional Grand Prix.