Author: Barkha Roy
Red Bull Racing once again dominated proceedings on practice day for the 2023 Miami GP, with reigning drivers’ champion Max Verstappen coming in ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
During the session, the teams were observed pushing their cars harder as the intensity of the track increased. Sergio Perez had a less than ideal day in P4, while Fernando Alonso took P5 to complete the top five.
Similar to the Baku GP, the 2023 F1 Miami GP seems to have a hierarchy comparable to Ferrari taking the lead in one-lap races. Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz put in impressive performances over the weekend, with Ferrari adopting a conservative approach on Friday and upping the intensity on Saturday. It’s possible that this weekend’s race will follow a similar pattern to Baku, where Ferrari dominates in qualifying but struggles during the race. Although Mercedes and Aston Martin are lagging behind in the one-lap races, their race pace looks promising.
It looks like Alpine has made progress and is expected to score points in Miami. Although Lando Norris deserves credit for beating some drivers from the top four teams, it is perhaps unrealistic to predict strong competition from Alpine or McLaren against the leading teams. The gap between the top four and the rest of the teams is significant, so it’s likely that there will be an internal battle between Alpine and McLaren during the race.
Meanwhile, Red Bull demonstrated a strong performance from the start of the race weekend, which may have given the impression that the gap between them and the chasing teams was not as wide as anticipated. However, as the season progressed and the team upgraded, both Mercedes and Ferrari showed impressive pace at various times. However, it seems unlikely that any of the teams will be able to challenge Red Bull’s dominance this weekend.
However, Sergio Perez’s poor performance in qualifying hurt his chances. The Mexican driver hasn’t been able to match his teammate’s pace and, although he can hope for a front row start to rival his teammate, achieving this will be a challenge.