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The 2024 F1 Miami GP will be the third iteration of the race. The first two races have been surprisingly competitive.
The first race in 2022 saw Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc in a very close battle. The second race in 2023 saw Verstappen beat Sergio Perez after coming through the field and making up for a bad qualifying session.
This time around, Red Bull seems dominant once again, and it would be hard for anyone to be competitive or even challenge Verstappen. Well, this was the thought when F1 went to the Australian GP earlier in the season and saw Ferrari win the race.
This will be the second sprint weekend of the season. So, what can we expect from the F1 Miami GP? Let's take a look.
#1 Max Verstappen wins the 2024 F1 Miami GP
When it comes to winning the race, it's going to be very hard to go against Max Verstappen this season. There have been five races this season, and what has become clear is that Red Bull is great in all conditions.
For the F1 Miami GP, we're looking at very humid conditions, and hence, tires would be under a lot of stress. This would be a bit similar to how the conditions were in Bahrain earlier in the year, and that's where the RB20 tends to have the measure of its competition.
For both the sprint and the race, Max Verstappen appears to be a safe pick.
#2 McLaren's upgrades might not show a meaningful impact
McLaren is finally bringing its first set of upgrades in a bid to reach the level of performance it wanted to be at from the start of the season. As usual, the team is downplaying the impact that the upgrades could have on the car but there is merit to it.
The F1 Miami GP track layout is not conducive to McLaren's car characteristics in any way and hence the team might not be at its best here. Will the upgrades give a bump in performance? They should ideally but we need to wait and watch how big a jump is possible for the team.
#3 Ferrari is going to be more competitive at the F1 Miami GP
Hotter weather and long straights are some of the characteristics that should suit Ferrari. The car's biggest issue has been the inability to generate temperature into the tires quickly enough. While this helps in races where the long run tends to be more impressive, it hurts early in a stint and in qualifying.
With hotter temperatures at play, we might be looking at a weekend where the car is possibly more competitive.
#4 Haas scores points
Just like Ferrari, the track layout should suit Haas. In the midfield at the moment, the battle for points is arguably between RB and Haas.
While RB has shown the ability to excel on tracks where there are quite a few fast-speed sections, Haas tends to do well on tracks where the long straights and higher temperatures play a role.
We might be looking at another race where Nico Hulkenberg snatches a point or two for the American team.
#5 The race weekend overall could be a bit chaotic
This weekend will feature the sprint format, and hence the teams only have one session to nail the setup for the sprint. The track at Miami is not used throughout the year, hence, just one hour of running is going to be crucial and hence conducive to mistakes.
