"Really bad": Verstappen and Hamilton rage about Formula 1 races in Miami
Created: 05/17/2022, 11:14 am
By: Michael Haug
Formula 1 held a Grand Prix in Miami for the first time this season.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton sharply criticize the track.
Miami – The Miami Grand Prix was a great success for Formula 1.
After
a Formula 1 hype was triggered in the USA by the
Netflix series "Formula 1: Drive to Survive", the Grand Prix in Miami is considered the final breakthrough of the racing series in the States.
The race was sold out, 82,500 people bought the tickets, some of which were very expensive.
For example, a ticket at the start-finish line cost $1,200.
An average of 2.6 million Americans saw the Miami GP in front of the screens, only the Monaco GP 2002 reached more people in the USA!
But the drivers were not enthusiastic.
Hamilton, Verstappen and Perez with heavy criticism: "I almost knocked myself out"
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez said he was "overwhelmed" by the track and complained that there was no grip outside of the ideal line.
“The track is nice to drive, except for the chicane: it's so narrow!
It reminds me that I drove a go-kart between the cars in the parking lot when I was seven or eight years old," said record world champion Lewis Hamilton, who was recently heavily criticized.
The chicane with turns 14 and 15 is very slow and narrow, and the curbs cause problems, as world champion Max Verstappen explained: “I remember almost knocking myself out in the four laps I did on Friday because I hit the first curb and my head just got banged from left to right at least five, six times, but really bad.”
Max Verstappen wins the Miami Grand Prix - he only partially likes the track.
© IMAGO/Glenn Dunbar
"I think if I had been in a go-kart it would have been a nice chicane, but not in a Formula 1 car like we have at the moment," he said, referring to the wide and heavy cars the current season.
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz believes it takes "a bit of luck" to drive around the curbs.
The Spaniard describes the chicane as "unnatural", but thinks problems in the first race are normal.
Formula 1 in Miami: "I'm the only driver who liked the chicane"
Teammate Charles Leclerc sees the chicane even more positively.
"I think I'm the only driver on the grid who really liked this chicane," said the championship leader.
He describes the job as "pretty difficult".
You have to drive “very precisely”, but otherwise he liked it.
Hamilton, on the other hand, wants the chicane to be replaced in the future.
But that could be difficult.
Chief designer: "I was personally embarrassed"
Track designer Clive Bowen tells
Motorsport Magazine
that a lot of research has been done on the track.
Asphalt problems are normal for track debuts.
The drivers' criticism left Bowen "personally embarrassed".
There should be changes next year, among other things, the track would be cleaned earlier.
There was no other way of placing the chicane, since according to the FIA
statutes the distance between the turnpike bridge above and the track
surface must be four meters.
Also, to ensure the safety of the drivers, a slow chicane had to be installed, otherwise the run-out would not be sufficient, explains Tom Garfinkel, Managing Director of the Grand Prix.
The reasons should have been better communicated, he adds.
Despite the problems, the Miami Grand Prix is scheduled to continue.
The contract runs for ten years.
All dates for the 2022 season can be found here.
