With the Miami Grand Prix, Formula 1 lands, or rather returns, to Florida, a land with a widespread motoring culture fueled by events such as the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. It is no coincidence, therefore, that Liberty Media has chosen the peninsula on the east coast to capitalize on the growing interest in sport in the United States, building media attention around the event rarely seen before in the world championship circus. From the background of the Hard Rock Stadium to the fake Yatch Club created inside the circuit, there is no shortage of attractions that have already catalyzed the discussions of the experts, risking to divert attention from the actual substance of the event. The Miami race constitutes the whole fifth round of a championship that sees Ferrari and Red Bull in balance in the calculation of the victories. At Imola the Milton Keynes team scored a convincing double, capitalizing on the ability to adapt quickly to mixed rain conditions at low temperatures, in a weekend that allowed the teams only one free practice session to refine the set-up. before the parc fermé regime. As already happened in the Mercedes-Red Bull challenge of 2021, the current balance between the two teams at the top of the 2022 class places great emphasis on fine-tuning and preparation work for every single race weekendwhich becomes the main discriminator in determining the superiority of one or the other team.
The weight of the work approaching the Grand Prix will be even more significant in Florida, with the teams being called upon to interpret a new track for which no previous data exist. The representativeness of the simulations conducted in the factory will be particularly important to start the weekend with a good set-up base from which to start for the gradual refinement, in order to avoid radical changes during construction. Probably the track will undergo a rapid evolution, given the absence of residual tires in the trajectory that will progressively accumulate with the unfolding of the sessions, support categories included, an evolution also to be foreseen in view of the influence on the balance of the car. Another variable that enters the equation is embodied by the free practice times: no practice session will take place at the time in which qualifying and race are scheduled, thus limiting the information conveyed by the data that can be collected on Fridays in different conditions. The climatic aspect will in fact be central, since in Florida air temperatures around 30 ° are expectedC, in contrast to the values below 20 ° C in Imola, without neglecting the risk of rain on Saturday.
The surrounding conditions are accompanied by the novelty of the circuit, whose conformation is at the center of the attention of the teams. With an overall length of 5412 meters, the Miami track has 19 curves, 12 of which on the left and 7 on the right, a subdivision that stresses the tires on the right side more. There are therefore three long straights on which the simulations foresee peaks of 320 km / h, requiring a medium-low load configuration. On the other hand, the abundance of DRS zones, which again reach three, reduces the disadvantage in qualifying resulting from a more generous rear wing, encouraging those willing to increase the load level to preserve tire wear in the race. . Then there are some more limiting high-speed corners at the front, mainly concentrated in the first sector. However, Brembo’s simulations reveal that there are only four braking sections on the entire circuit, the lowest number in the entire championship, three of which correspond to the slowest hairpin bends. THEThe data suggests that many of the high-mileage folds are actually power limitedthat is, dealt with the accelerator to the tablet.
Therefore, the central section of the track from turns 11 to 16 gains emphasis, a toboggan of hairpin bends and narrow changes of direction at low speed, interspersed with small differences in height but with a marked slope. This is a section where the ability to make the suspension work properly to ensure mechanical grip even more than aerodynamic, as well as the stability of the rear axle and the management of the electric torque of the hybrid part stand out to be reactive when exiting in the repeated traction phases. Being able to easily turn the bulky 2022 single-seaters in such a stretch will be far from easy, placing itself as a sector in which it will potentially be possible to lose or gain a lot of time.
Overall, the track is quite varied, with a balance between straights, high-speed curves and others with low mileage, two extremes between which, however, there are no bends at intermediate speeds. It is therefore intuitive to understand how in Florida it will be necessary to find the compromise between the need for an aerodynamic look unloaded in straight lines, a mechanically rigid and high load set-up in the high mileage folds and a softer set-up able to release a lot load at low speeds in the central slide. A set-up work that is particularly complex, since it is not limited only to the adjustments of the wing appendages, but has different repercussions on the heights from the ground and the rigidity of the suspension group. Miami therefore deviates from Gedda, a track with which someone has suggested a comparison, since in Saudi Arabia the low speed curves around 100 km / h were almost absent, favoring more front-end setups. Proof of this are the average lap speeds expected in Florida, in the order of 220 km / h which, despite the abundance of straights, is the second lowest value among the tracks visited so far since the start of the championship.
For the first race in the United States, Pirelli has opted for the intermediate compounds of its range: C2, C3 and C4. The minimum static inflation pressures are 24.5 psi at the front and 20.5 psi at the rear, the latter value 1 psi lower than the one in force in Imola. The End of Straight camber values, referring to the driving conditions of the single-seaters at the end of the straight, return to the parameters of Jeddah, with -3.25 ° at the front and -2.00 ° at the rear, after the brackets of -3.50 ° and – 1.75th of the last two away matches. Finally, the Italian company provides a low abrasion but high grip asphalt, thanks also to the treatment with high pressure washing which has removed the surface patina of bitumen.
On the brakes front, however, the track was classified by the technicians Brembo with a severity of 3 out of 5 for the braking system. Using the brakes in just four points interspersed with long straights facilitates heat evacuation and overheating control. In three braking sections, however, there are drops in speed of over 200 km / h and braking distances of over 115 meters. The most demanding braking is the one that precedes turn 17 at the end of the return straight, where estimates foresee deceleration peaks of 4.6 g to go from 326 to 77 km / h in 2.8 seconds.
Overall, it is reasonable to expect a similar picture to what we have already seen in Jeddah, while recognizing the differences between the Saudi and American tracks, with Ferrari and Red Bull with polar opposite behaviors and each with the weapons to ensure supremacy in a specific section of the circuit, however, compensating in the balance of the complete round. Red Bull has shown that it has a considerable advantage on the straight at high speeds, not to mention that a second package of updates aimed at reducing weight could arrive in Miami, after the innovations brought by car to Imola. Ferrari, on the other hand, can aspire to close the gap in the low-mileage driven section, given the goodness of the F1-75 in the slow. In Florida the Scuderia di Maranello will also bring a new rear wing to reduce aerodynamic drag to contain the speed delay from Red Bull. However, the gap cannot be completely closed, also given the design approach of the Ferrari power unit which, as highlighted by Binotto, requires extensive use of clipping, cutting the electric power at high speeds to favor the recovery in extension.
Equally worthy of interest will be the race close to the leaders. McLaren in Imola he spent a weekend in the role of third force, after having progressed above all in the slow. Alfa Romeo however, he could still have aspired to the podium had it not been for Bottas’ mistake at the pit stop, which cost the Finn nine seconds. In addition to remaining the lightest single-seater of the lot, at the Santerno the Alfa benefited from important updates to the sidepods, the bottom and the delicate aerodynamic appendages of the rear brakes. In Italy too AlphaTauri it appeared revitalized by the extended evolutionary package, a performance however obscured by a badly exploited qualification. In Miami it will be instead Haas to receive the first important update, personified by a new fund designed to reduce porpoising, already ready for Imola, but postponed due to adverse weather conditions. In this fierce scenario they will have to make room Alpine and Mercedes, the first slowed down by reliability problems and tire wear, the second by a chronic suffering of aerodynamic rebound. However, from recent declarations, both teams show signs of improvement, inviting us to follow the action on the track in Miami with even more interest.
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