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Preview Analysis | Will the Miami circuit favour Red Bull or Ferrari?

Preview Analysis | Will the Miami circuit favour Red Bull or Ferrari?

05-05-2022 19:30
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Formula 1 will visit a new circuit for the fifth round of the 2022 World Championship. The Miami Grand Prix will take place this weekend and present a lot of unknowns to teams and drivers as they face these challenges for the very first time. Though little historical data is something prevalent during the current season. GPblog gives an analysis and prediction of who the track will favour. 

Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc are the two frontrunners engaging in a duel for the World Championship title. After the Dutchman’s win last time out in Imola, the two rivals sit one and two in the drivers' standings for the first time this year. The wins are shared two each, but Leclerc has a decent 27 point lead. 

Red Bull Racing have built a strong car for the season, but it wasn’t all that reliable in the opening exchanges. After three races, Verstappen had recorded two DNFs and thus the reason behind the 27 point gap. Ferrari have also built a rocket and Leclerc has managed to capitalise on this at all races except Imola when he made a critical error in front of Ferrari’s Tifosi. 

Red Bull have been on top when it comes to straight-line speed. But the Ferrari car has the upper hand when it comes to the medium/slow-speed corners. After looking at the telemetries, it’s clear the Ferrari drivers have more downforce and traction as they can get on the power quicker at the exit of the corner. 

Christian Horner’s team introduced a brand-new floor for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last time out as the development race started to come alive. It looked like the floor helped the team make some improvements in Imola, though it was hard to see and compare with very limited practice running and often a damp circuit. 

Mattia Binotto confirmed earlier in the week that Ferrari won’t have their main update coming in Miami. The Italian suggests this will be on the car for the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks time. Though the Ferrari boss didn’t rule out some new parts on the car as they look to adapt to the Miami circuit characteristics. 

With the cars equipped with new rules and regulations for the 2022 season, the development rate will be extremely high as there are plenty of performance areas yet to be unlocked. 

Miami Grand Prix 

 
 
 
 
 
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A very quick glance at the track tells you this is a circuit that will suit the Red Bull Racing car. Whilst cars that are better in the slow speed sectors gain more time because more time is spent in these sections, the amount of high-speed sections outweighs this similar to the Jeddah circuit. 

The front straight and back straights are very long which will favour the Red Bull car. In Jeddah, they walked away with pole position and the race victory because of the long straights and high-speed corners that are barely noticed by an F1 car. Turn six to turn 11 is very similar to what we see with Saudi Arabia’s turn 13 hairpin. 

The key part for Ferrari will be turns 11 to turn 16. Through this section, the cars will barely reach 150km/h which is where the Ferrari car really shows its strengths with traction in the corners allowing Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to get on the power early. Any gains made by Ferrari in this section could be eaten straight back up with an almighty long straight towards the stadium. Expect DRS to be extremely powerful here, with the braking zone at turn 17 hardly being used as an overtaking area. 

Going on data collected at previous circuits, the first part of the track is going to be very interesting. This area will be absolutely critical as both cars have the potential to be quicker through the opening exchanges.