Talking points ahead of the Miami Grand Prix
Thursday, 4 May 2023
The 2023 Formula 1® season embarks on a long journey to the United States for the first time this year as part of a back-to-back with Baku – here's what to keep an eye on.
It's a quick turnaround for Formula 1® after last weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the travelling roadshow making the 11,000-kilometre dash from Baku to Florida for the second running of the Miami Grand Prix this weekend (May 5-7).
The 16-plus hour flight westwards will be more palatable for Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing after a fourth straight victory to open the 2023 F1® season last weekend in Azerbaijan – five wins, if we're counting Perez's victory in the opening Sprint Race of the season on Saturday – while the first of three visits to the United States this year gives us a chance to see if Ferrari's turn of speed in Baku was an anomaly or a sign of things to come, after Charles Leclerc took pole position for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix proper.
Here's three talking points we're watching ahead of this weekend.
The stat that's haunting Leclerc
Impressive as Leclerc's pair of pole positions were in Baku – impressive and unsurprising, given the Monegasque's penchant for one-lap acrobatics that defy the limitations of his machinery – failing to convert his P1 on the grid to a race win was largely expected given Red Bull's pace advantage over the rest this season, and an extension of a numerical nightmare that's becoming an albatross for Ferrari's star.
Leclerc has taken 19 F1 poles, but won just four times when he's headed the field as the lights go out – his 21 per cent pole-to-win conversion rate is now the fourth-worst in history behind Frenchman Rene Arnoux (11 per cent), Scot David Coulthard (16 per cent) and Brazilian Nelson Piquet Sr (20 per cent).
An even worse omen, considering the form Red Bull is in this season; Verstappen has actually won more races when Leclerc takes pole (seven) than Leclerc has himself, which brings us to …
Miami's history to repeat?
One of those seven Verstappen wins after being beaten by Leclerc on Saturday came in Miami last year. The first event held at the circuit that works its way around the Miami Dolphins NFL stadium in Miami Gardens looked like a Ferrari benefit until race day, when Verstappen unpicked a Ferrari front-row lockout to take victory over Leclerc by 3.786 seconds.
Miami's race on May 7 marks nearly 10 months since Ferrari last won (Leclerc in Austria last July), and while few would be surprised to see Leclerc take pole again this weekend given his sweet spots on street tracks, the circuit layout is likely to play into Red Bull's hands across 57 laps on Sunday.
A 1.3-kilometre back straight – shorter than Baku's front straight, but still one of the longer straights on the entire calendar – will suit Red Bull's hyper-efficient DRS down to the ground, likely making it hard for Ferrari or any other rival to repel them between Turns 16-17.
Piastri hungry for better
Given Miami's geographic location and its melting pot of cultures and influences, Florida's biggest city is a foodies' paradise – and one that Oscar Piastri hopes to be well enough to taste after the Australian was reduced to surviving on a few slices of dry toast in Baku, a stomach bug seeing him lose three kilograms as he plied his trade for McLaren.
Finishing 11th and one place out of the points is hard to swallow at any time, let alone on a weekend we're you’re doing well to keep down the morsels of food you have swallowed; Piastri was less than three seconds behind AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda for 10th and a world championship point in Azerbaijan, a cruel margin for a weekend of toil.
McLaren sits in fifth place in the constructors' standings heading into Miami – with 14 points, they're a long way off fourth-placed Ferrari (62 points) – but Piastri and teammate Lando Norris will be targeting Q3 appearances in Florida while trying to keep Alpine in the rear-vision mirror. Points for Piastri would be cause for celebration, and perhaps a chance to sample some of the local fare …
The Formula 1® Miami Grand Prix 2023 will be available to watch live on Foxtel and Kayo. See our What time does the 2023 Australian Grand Prix start in Australia article for timings.
