The Surge

After a month-long break in April due to the cancellations of the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Formula One is back and racing in Miami. The Miami International Autodrome features a circuit length of 5.412 km, 19 turns, 57 laps and a total race distance of 308.326 km. The race was held on May 3 after an exciting qualifying session the day before where driver Kimi Antonelli achieved pole position with Max Verstappen behind him in second and Charles Leclerc in third.

Originally set to take place on May 3 at 4:00 p.m. the race was moved to 1:00 p.m. due to extreme weather warnings. During the race, rain was predicted; but never showed. These extreme weather predictions were the cause of many erratic strategies from the involved teams, one example of this being during the formation lap when we first get to see what tire compounds the drivers are on. Isack Hadjar started on the hard tire compound while the rest of the pack stuck to medium tire compound.

The opening lap was a very dramatic start for the Grand Prix with Leclerc getting an amazing start and gaining the lead. Meanwhile, Antonelli and Verstappen each suffered from a lock-up, which then led to a spin for Verstappen who managed a beautiful recovery. Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto also suffered from contact on the first lap while Hamilton was trying to overtake Colapinto into turn 11. This was later named a racing incident, so neither driver got a penalty. By the end of lap one, the top drivers were Leclerc, Antonelli, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and George Russell.

In the beginning of the second lap, Audi driver Nico Hulkenberg had to pit due to front wing damage and the rest of the lap had a lot of overtake action. During laps four and five, Leclerc and Antonelli were fighting for the lead up until Hadjar went into the wall, ultimately ending his race. Norris then overtook Antonelli for second place. During lap six, Pierre Gasly also had a bad crash, his car flipping when he tried to overtake Liam Lawson. The crash was the result of an anti-stall issue, Lawson’s car had no deceleration and he retired from the race. With the abundance of crashes, the safety car got called out into the race, leading to Verstappen, the only driver to pit during the safety car, to change to the hard tire compounds. Hulkenberg retired from the race soon after.

The race started back up again with the safety car ending at the end of lap 11. During the restart, we see Piastri overtake Russell for fourth place. On lap 13, Norris was able to overtake Leclerc for the race lead and then Antonelli for second. This success did not last long though, as Leclerc got his second place back almost immediately, causing a back and forth fight for second place, which Antonelli ended up winning. Meanwhile, the fights at the front of the grid were happening at the back and midfield. Verstappen was getting past a lot of drivers going from 15 to 11 fairly quickly. Due to him pitting and his fast uprise, he was poised to get the race lead without having to overtake or fight for it; everyone else still needed to pit at this point. 

The race was very exciting, up until lap 21, where strategy came in for many drivers. Russell pit and changed to the hard tires, making his out-lap crucial for him. During this time, it was predicted to rain soon; teams did not want their drivers entering the pits. Russell’s pit stop was the first of many more to come as Leclerc came in on lap 22. Ferrari’s goal was for him to come out of the pits in front of Russell, but that did not end up happening since they took too long putting on one of his front tires. By lap 27, Verstappen was up to fourth place while Antonelli was pitting for new tires. His pit stop allowed Verstappen to move up to third place, putting him back in the running for the podium. In lap 28, race leader Norris finally pitted with Hamilton close after. Mercedes’ pitting strategy ended up working very well, their drivers each gaining places with Russel in sixth and Antonelli in third. The last front-row driver to pit was Piastri when he pitted on lap 29. 

Verstappen’s early pit stop gave him a big advantage and the lead up until Antonelli, with much fresher tires, overtook him. Norris stole second place by lap 30. Driver Valtteri Bottas was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Piastri was back up to fifth in lap 35. By lap 44,  Antonelli and Norris were able to gain 16.1 seconds on Verstappen, who was in third. By lap 47, Verstappen had been driving on 39-lap-old tires. He had no grip and no advantage in the fight with Leclerc for third place or with Piastri for fourth. 

During lap 55, Verstappen and Russell were fighting for fifth place when Russell hit Verstappen’s tire, leading to front wing damage for Verstappen. During the final lap of the race, Russell was finally able to clear Verstappen for fifth place and Piastri was able to overtake Leclerc, who ending up having a spin, but was able to keep it out of the barriers; he started having huge problems with the car, allowing Russell and Verstappen to pass him in the last second. The race finished with Antonelli in first while Leclerc, with a 20 second penalty for track limits on the last lap, was pushed back to eighth place.

Bottom line: The race was filled with action all throughout it having great overtakes. It was an extremely exciting and entertaining race with multiple things happening at once.