2023 Miami GP: Post Race Analysis

[SS454]

Another snooze fest for a race. This generation of cars are supposed to be better for passing, and yet we have seen very little in the last 2 races. It sort of feels like 2011-13 when drivers were massively conserving the cars, particularly the tires, and nobody was willing to attack. Of course the Red Bull domination isn't helping.

Red Bull cruise to another 1-2 finish. The Perez supporters perhaps a bit humbled? The Medium - Hard strategy was not necessarily the wrong strategy, it's just Max was just that much better. Verstappen was in complete control of his race from the opening lap. The drivers were free to race each other, and we saw that, but it was more than clean and Perez was pretty much helpless at that point. No signs of the team slowing down either.

Aston Martin get another fantastic drive by Alonso, unfortunately the car is no where near the pace to challenge the Red Bulls. The car itself is likely on par with Ferrari and Mercedes in general, but Alonso is likely making the difference in getting the results. Stroll on the other hand was terrible. Different setups, not ideal quali, whatever the excuse, his car was more than strong enough to get points. To finish 12th is simply not good enough and the team cannot afford him to be this bad in the constructors championship.

Mercedes looked better in the race than in quali, which is their norm. Russell had a solid day where he just drove his race. A strong P4. Hamilton appeared to be in for a rough afternoon, but once on the Medium tires he was able to make great progress against cars with used Hards. P6 is an excellent result when points were looking iffy at one point.

Ferrari can't seem to get their car together for the race. Sainz looked okay for awhile, but tire wear just kills any hope for Ferrari. Leclerc might have one of the worst races in his Ferrari career. The car just looked to have no power, and was terrible under braking. Sadly, they look to be going backwards at this point.

Alpine had an optimistic afternoon. They really worked their strategies hard, and they seemed to pay off. Double points for a team that has had their struggles so far in 2023.

Haas looked like they were in for a good day, but it sort of fell apart on them. Starting P4, Kmag was in a great position, was extremely strong against Leclerc in his Ferrari. Things are going well. A great weekend for him specifically, as Hulkenberg has typically got the better of the driver battle this season. By race end, Kmag held on for 1 point, and Hulk just 15th. A Ferrari powered car with a similar design to Ferrari and they struggle for race pace. Coincidence?

AlphaTauri has Tsunoda claim another P11. The good news is any time a driver inside the top 10 retires, Yuki should be right there to grab a point. De Vries continues to disappoint. Turn 1 collision with Lando won't help his popularity either.

Alfa Romeo need some upgrades bad. In a season when the mid field is separated by tenths, they should have their occasional fight inside the points. Without some luck, it doesn't seem to happen for them. Bottas did manage to outperform Zhou, which is good. Though when we are talking about 13th and 16th, does anybody care?

Williams once again failed at a track they probably should have done better at. Lonnng straights, big DRS zones, 330+ kph. This is sounds like a track good for Williams. Yet they were the 2nd worst team? Albon did as good as he could, which is what we come to expect. Logan Sargeant is giving proof to those that think he does not deserve to be in F1. In one of this home races too. Ouch.

McLaren, went from a very good improvement in Baku to complete trash in Miami. What the heck? Maybe Lando had some rear end damage, but still, the car had no pace all weekend. An atrocious USA performance for a team full of American sponsors, with Zack Brown doing what he does to build the brand in the USA.

Driver of the Day: Max Verstappen. Made it look easy. The only driver to really attack at times, kept it clean, protected his tires, saved fuel better than most, and came from 9th to win the race.

[Brembo]

Lucky for ferrari and we fans Carlos refuses to give up! Points are adding up.

[tpe]

I watched most of the race from Leclerc s on board.
The car was all over the place. No acceleration, no breaking, no stability in the corners.
On top of that, it was porpoising like hell. At some point the changed the camera to watch Leclerc's helmet. I got my neck stiff just by looking at the screen. The changed the view almost immediately.

The way I see it, the new floor could be OK for a single lap. But until the fix the suspension, any aero improvement will be pointless.

[Brembo]

Was Charles having all those car problems during the practices including still porpoising? and he accepted the car for the race knowing nothing was done to better the car ? HOW Could Charles not complain ? Is Carlos' car not sent out the same? Where is Fred?

[SS454]

Was Charles having all those car problems during the practices including still porpoising? and he accepted the car for the race knowing nothing was done to better the car ? HOW Could Charles not complain ? Is Carlos' car not sent out the same? Where is Fred?

Charles said he selected his setup knowing about the difficulties it had, but felt it was the fastest option.

[paolo lalli]

Of course the car would have had difficulties 2 crashes later what else can one except.charles went into the race with a damaged patched up car with older parts not the ideal set up one would think.