Asphalt Miami, Ricciardo mercilessly: "An Australian farm"

Now that the long wait for the Miami Grand Prix is finally over, for teams and drivers the time has come to provide the first considerations on what the weekend in Florida presented, both from the point of view of the event itself and purely technical, focusing in particular on the characteristics of the new city circuit. Among those who have commented on the latter, one of the most original bears the signature of Daniel Ricciardo.

Judging the asphalt quality of the Miami International Autodromewith the annexes difficulty to regularly carry out maneuvers of overtaking without losing control of the car, the number 3 generated a comparison between the track and the gravel roads typical of Australian outback farms. Previously, the one who had found a singular similarity between the circuit and another place had been Lewis Hamilton, with the seven-time world champion who had made a connection between the track and the parking lot of a hardware store in Great Britain, where the Mercedes driver trained with a kart as a kid.

Going into more detail at the end of the race, Ricciardo described the asphalt in Miami as follows, without however wanting to complain excessively about the conditions of the track: “The surface was not acceptable – admitted the McLaren driver – but this may be due to the fact that we are too spoiled for what we are used to. Let’s say it’s a bit out of specification. It reminds me of the surface I have on my farm in Australia, with that loose gravel. It’s fun with off-roading, but these Pirelli tires are not so suitable for this loose asphalt. It would be great if it were a little different and we could use the track more. When you are following someone, you want to run a little wide and cross, but when you do you are off the track. I saw people trying to make a similar move and crashed, as happened to Vettel, because there was no grip on the inside ”.

In conclusion, Ricciardo finally assessed another aspect suffered greatly by the drivers such as excessive humidity and heat, underlining however the overall success of the weekend: “The factor at high temperatures was very difficult – he added – also because we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of pouring three liters into the beverage system when everyone is fighting for the weight of the cars ”.