03/05/2023
NEWS STORY
In Miami, the first of three grands prix to be held in the United States this year, the compounds chosen by Pirelli are: C2 as the P Zero White hard, C3 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C4 as the P Zero Red soft.
The track, with 19 predominantly slow corners and three straights, is moderately demanding on tyres. The choice of three compounds from the middle of the range, rather than softer sets, is mainly due to the usually high track temperatures which reached 59 degrees C last year.
The most used compounds in the 2022 race were medium and hard. Most of the drivers competed the grand prix with just one pit stop. The race was neutralised twice by a safety car and a virtual safety car, which allowed some teams to make a second pit stop.
The Miami circuit made its debut on the calendar in 2022 and winds around the Hard Rock Stadium, where the paddock will be set up this year: the team hospitality units will be located on the American football field where the Miami Dolphins usually play.
The organisers of the grand prix have had the 5.41 kilometres of track resurfaced for 2023. The previous surface, composed of limestone and granite, had been treated with powerful jets of water. The new surface is an unknown factor and will be analysed by Pirelli technicians during a track inspection carried out on Wednesday during the week of the race.
The Azerbaijan and Miami Grands Prix are the first consecutive race weekends in this year's Formula 1 calendar. The trip is particularly demanding because of the eight-hour time difference between Baku and the Atlantic coast of the United States.
While in Baku the teams had very little practice time to test updates on their cars due to the debut of the new Sprint format, in Miami they will return to a more traditional schedule, with three free practice sessions preceding qualifying and the race.
The weather on the coast of Miami is very changeable. In 2022 the race was spared by rain, which fell only when the starting grid was being assembled with the high temperatures meaning that the track dried out before the race started. The possibility of downpours has to be taken into serious consideration.
Mario Isola: "This weekend, Formula 1 will race in Miami for the first of three rounds in the United States on this year's calendar, along with the now-traditional event in Austin and the much-awaited race in Las Vegas. It is not the first time that the championship has had three grands prix take place in the US in the same year, but never before have we seen our sport make such an impact with the American public, and this is largely thanks to the commitment made by Liberty Media.
"In the first race held on the track around the Hard Rock Stadium last year, the tyres behaved as expected on asphalt which had rather particular characteristics, above all due to a very high "micro-roughness".
"We know that the track has now been completely resurfaced and we will have to check during the usual inspection that precedes the start of the weekend if there will be any significant changes in its characteristics.
"The Miami track requires average downforce levels, as it features a wide variety of corners but also a very long straight. We have brought the middle tyres in the range (C2, C3, and C4), also due to the fact that we can expect very high temperatures: last year the asphalt reached almost 60 degrees C."