MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2022

Well, guys, that actually went way better than I expected.

In F1, I live by the saying, "New track, new troubles." I expected Miami to be no exception. After F1 has had several seriously lackluster visits to the US in the past few years, I was dreading what Miami was going to look like. I assumed that if Texas was bad, Miami was only going to be worse.

But thank God, that was not the case. It was actually a pretty great weekend.

The track around the Hard Rock Stadium made an amazing venue and it was packed full of passionate fans wearing pastel colors and tropical shirts. It was lovely to look at. Definitely a party atmosphere. Even the fake marina, which I thought would be too extra, was actually pretty sweet.

Miami did a great job. I can hardly believe I'm hearing myself say it.

Of course, there's still a few things I'd like to improve. For example, the practice sessions were packed with incidents, but the race itself was pretty boring until the last few laps. It seemed like there was no real passing happening on track, but the track had me terrified the whole time that someone, surely, was going to have a terrible crash. It did remind me of a Jeddah type of layout, which, last year, generated some of the worst crashes at any track we've gone to.

Also, the poor boys on the podium looked like they were going to pass out. Racing in Florida during the day is just too hot. They are pro athletes, but they're still mortal and should not be subjected to that kind of dangerous temperatures.

Lastly, the part that I've probably yelled the most about this weekend was that Carlos Sainz decided to take off his shirt in the cool down room on live television and that just seemed completely unprofessional to me. I still don't like that the cool down room is back. Can't we just let them have a moment after they've been through such an ordeal? Why do we have to stick more cameras in their face?

Other drama included Lil Schumacher hitting Seb in the race and Max stopping inches from wall, saving his car from a smashup, Lando's basketball helmet, and Daniel's Ace Ventura helmet.

I loved that Max was on the top step of the podium and Charles in second. That's how I hoped my home country would treat these two starts. I also loved that they had Dan Marino, himself, present Max with the trophy.

Here are my notes:

Free Practice 1

• first time ever in Miami

• 40% chance of rain for this session

• Literally no runoff area here and this is the first time I’ve seen the track and my first impression is that this is interesting and difficult and new and potentially really dangerous

• Maxy brushes the wall in the first ten minutes

• Lots of people slipping around and trying to figure the track out

• Ocon already getting an unsafe release into George Russell

• Mick Schumacher and Daniel Ricciardo pit lane incident too but investigated after the race

• Hard hit for Bottas in the barrier at turn 7 and first RED FLAG of the weekend and I have a v bad feeling about this

• Sainz has a big spin again and compromises his session ans doesn’t go into the wall by sheer luck

• Albon put his williams in p2 near the end of the session, incredible

• Top three are Charles George and Max so three teams in the running

• Yuki being super disrespectful this session

• Lando has a basketball helmet and he just wins at helmets

• Daniel has an ace ventura theme helmet

Free Practice 2

• They changed Maxy’s gearbox in a precautionary action because is the. Rush with the wall but that is nonsense

• There has been a whole. Introvert this weekend where they are ordering Hamilton not to wear jewelry because none of the other drivers are allowed to so he showed up to a press conference with like every piece of jewelry he owns and now he is like refusing to take off the jewelry in the car so they are maybe gonna have to inspect the car for discrepancies because the driver is part of the car and if the car is overweight then it could be disqualified from this

• Carlos Sainz goes too fast and hits the wall and RED FLAG to clean it up and everyone is like ok Sainz is having a terrible time

• They’re talking to Mario Andretti in the commentary box!

• Huge sound issues in this session on F1 tv where it is cutting out every few minutes

• NOOO as soon as they change Max’s gearbox and send him out, his steering fails and his back right brake starts on FIRE and they have to have him go straight back into the box and it’s so upsetting, this is not good for Maxy

• A bizarre incident where when Max lost power and steering, Lance got mad at Max for slowing on the line but there was nothing Max could do and Lance drove around Max dangerously and they investigated the incident but no further action

• This pit lane exit is getting majorly in peoples way

• George Russell blocked Seb when he was coming out of the pits

• Sudden red flag for Nicholas Latifi who surprisingly didn’t crash but stopped at a logical place after realizing his wheel wasn’t on straight

• Kevin has a spin at Turn 7 like Bottas

Free Practice 3

• Ocon has a RED FLAG crash at turn 14, same as Carlos

• A lot of colorful commentary by Juan Pablo Montoya

• Lots of black and white flags for crossing the line at the pit exit

• With a minute left, Max has a VERY NEAR crash in the problem chicane but thank God he is somehow able to stop in time before hitting the wall

• Some impeding and possible ignoring of race directors instructions at end

Qualifying

• they couldn’t fix Ocon’s car in time for qualifying so he won’t take part in quali!

• Out in Q1: Kevin, Zhou, Albon, Latifi, and Ocon who did not take part

• Out in Q2: Alonso, Russell, Vettel, Ricciardo and Lil Schu

• Alonso accused Sainz of impeding and then under investigation and no further investigation

• Little error by Max on his last lap so he starts third

• Charles on pole!! Sainz in second, Max third

Race

• the pre race of Martin Brundle was classic stress and SO many celebrities but the national anthem was awesome so that’s amazing

• Both Aston martins starting from the pit lane because the fuel was too cold so that’s weird

• Charles retains the lead and Max gets past Sainz to second place and Lewis falls back to 8th at the start with Bottas retaining 5th

• Hamilton accused Alonso of hitting him on the first lap lol

• Hamilton gets back past Alonso and Gasly to sixth so where he started by lap 6

• 7/57 team tells Zhou he has to retire

• 9/57 MAX PASSES CHARLES for the lead!! Red Bull has much more speed

• 13/57 Charles has a lock up around a corner because of the tire wear

• 16/57 Alonso has a slow pit stop

• 20/57 PEREZ INSISTING HE IS LOSING POWER

• Okay they appear to have fixed Perez’s power

• Kevin is having some shenanigans

• 25/57 Charles reports the car is so difficult to drive

• Charles pits soon after reporting that

• 27/57 Maxy pits and has a nice fast stop

• Sainz has a 5.4 second stop!!

• Perez pits the same time and now they are gonna be close

• 40/57 Alonso locks up and accidentally HITS the side of Gasly but they both continue and the stewards notice it

• 41/57 LANDO AND GASLY COLLIDE and it’s a full safety car. Gasly was slowing and had adventures for 3 corners and didn’t see Lando going past and hits him and Lando does dramatic spins and is out of the race

• Full safety car means a total reset for this pretty quiet race so far

• Alonso gets a five second time penalty for causing a collision

• Only Perez pits under the safety car and Max, Charles and Sainz dont pit ahead of him so Sergio can be fast

• Gasly pits at end of safety car with a problem after the contact with Alonso AND Lando

• Magnussen and Stroll collision after restart but only caused a yellow and they keep going

• This post safety car restart is WILD and you just don’t know where to look

• Perez almost passed Sainz but locked up

• OH NO LIL SCHU HIT SEB and both of their races are basically over, seb retires and Mick continues in last

• The stewards putting out super confusing investigation notices with the wrong drivers and they have to issue several corrections and it’s just confusion

• MAX WINSSSSSS and then Charles in second who was just in his tail! Sainz in third, Perez in fourth who almost got Sainz, and then Russell in front of Hamilton which I love and then Bottas right behind

• All three drivers look SO tired after this race and it was super physical and they all need tons of water

• Max gets his own little jeep take him over to the podium

• They have Dan Marino, himself, give Max the trophy! Right about the statue of Dan Marino. They also give them football helmets AND hats to wear.