Hello, MiniFans! The second sprint weekend in a row takes us to the opposite end of the world. Miami and the Hard Rock Stadium’s surroundings have transformed from their usual looks into a full on racing track, where drivers barely got an hour of practice before getting chucked into a qualifying that left much to be desired for many… except for Ricciardo, who thanks to a decent lap while everyone else messed up one way or another, managed a very unexpected fourth place.
The front of the grid looked similar to the usual sight this season. Verstappen, despite not understanding how, had managed to score the sprint pole, while Leclerc, who had only managed a couple laps in practice, filled in the second space in the front row. Pérez completed the top three beside Ricciardo, as Sainz clenched another top five start. Mediums plagued the grid to try and last the whole sprint,
Ricciardo’s hunger made allowed him to overtake Pérez in the first corner, a bit helped by the Mexican going wide, but the bigger news was behind them, as Norris, hopeful thanks to the promising McLaren upgrades, and soon the zone was yellow flagged before the safety car was deployed. Until the replays were shown, it wasn’t too clear what had happened. When they finally were, up to four drivers were involved in the incident that ended with Norris’ race: Hamilton braked very late as he claimed to have seen a space on the inside, but the racing line was occupied by the time he got there by Alonso and Stroll, who had also had contact prior to Hamilton arriving and pushing them wide. The last driver involved was Norris himself, who seemed a simple passenger who couldn’t do anything. Both Norris and Stroll retired, whereas Alonso dropped to last and Hamilton had made it up to ninth.
The restart was cleaner with the cars already in a line for the moving start. Verstappen didn’t manage to catch anyone by surprise this time around, with everyone behind him quite alert and keeping their positions. Pérez regained his original third place quite easily, but he couldn’t quite pull away from Ricciardo without a DRS, unlike the bunch of cars behind him, who were stuck in a train.
The straight was proving to be an extra rival to Hamilton, who was struggling to get past the Haas even with the advantage of having the DRS, something Magnussen couldn’t benefit from. Back at the front, things hadn’t changed, as Ricciardo, Sainz and Piastri, the group fighting for fourth, were in a similar standoff to that of Magnussen and Hamilton, the positions not changing despite the efforts from the chasing drivers.
The Magnussen-Hamilton fight caught all eyes, including those of the stewards, as Magnussen left the track a couple times in his fierce defence of the last position that awards points in the sprint, earning himself a ten-second penalty for cutting a chicane, a black and white flag for track limits, ten more seconds for leaving the track again and yet another investigation that wasn’t solved during the race. The battle even came to the point of both leaving the track when it looked like Hamilton had finally gotten past, as Magnussen braked way too late and didn’t leave any space, which Tsunoda took advantage of to overtake Hamilton.
Magnussen finally seemed to calm down in the last handful of laps, finally conceding to both Tsunoda and Hamilton in front and dropping out of DRS range. Back at the front, Sainz was trying to do the same thing Hamilton had, but he didn’t seem to find the perfect place to break Ricciardo’s defensive moves, who seemed to know when and where to cover spots, showing his rear wing to the Spaniard up to the finish line.
Even when things are awkward for everyone, as they were on SQ3 on Friday, Red Bull in general and Verstappen in particular somehow still manage to come out on top. It was yet another cruise from start to finish for the Dutch driver, while his teammate had to fight to get into the podium, both of them split apart by a Ferrari one more time.
MiniDrivers – F1
2024 Miami GP
Sprint race
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