The 2024 USA Miami Grand Prix Thread

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 6th round of the 2024 season taking place at Miami from May 3rd-5th.

The event timetable for the USA Miami Grand Prix.

Friday
Practice 12:30 local time - 16:30 GMT
Sprint Qualifying 16:30 local time - 20:30 GMT
Saturday
Sprint 12:00 local time - 16:00 GMT
Qualifying 16:00 Local time - 20:00
Sunday
Race 16:00 local time - 20:00 GMT

[cmlean]

Practice 1

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Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:28.595	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	1:28.700	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
3	1:28.711	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
4	1:28.784	George Russell	  Mercedes
5	1:28.817	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
6	1:28.868	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
7	1:29.012	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
8	1:29.056	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
9	1:29.163	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
10	1:29.175	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
11	1:29.178	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
12	1:29.189	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
13	1:29.314	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
14	1:29.393	Alexander Albon	  Williams
15	1:29.445	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
16	1:29.495	Lando Norris	  McLaren
17	1:29.636	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
18	1:29.891	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
19	1:30.023	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
20	1:32.099	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari

[cmlean]

Charles Leclerc lost his Ferrari exiting turn 16 and blocked the track.
Red flags were put out and the car was removed from the circuit.
Will this have an impact on his qualifying for the sprint race? We will wait and see.

[cmlean]

Sprint Qualifying

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Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:27.641	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	1:27.749	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
3	1:27.876	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull
4	1:28.044	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
5	1:28.103	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
6	1:28.161	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
7	1:28.375	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
8	1:28.419	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
9	1:28.472	Lando Norris	  McLaren
10	1:28.476	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
_______________________________________________________
11	1:28.343	George Russell	  Mercedes
12	1:28.371	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
13	1:28.379	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
14	1:28.614	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
15	No Time		Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
_______________________________________________________
16	1:29.185	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
17	1:29.267	Zhou Guanyu	    Sauber
18	1:29.360	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
19	1:29.551	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
20	1:29.858	Alexander Albon	  Williams

[cmlean]

Yuki Tsunoda failed to set a time in Q2 while Daniel Ricciardo exceeded expectations qualifying in position 4.
Lando Norris was the fastest car on the circuit however fastest in Q2 doesn't get you pole.
For some reason, the switch to red softs just didn't work for him.
Even Oscar Piastri was only 2 thousandths of a second faster between the medium and soft compounds.

[cmlean]

Sprint

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Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
3	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
4	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
5	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
6	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
7	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
8	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
9	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
10	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
11	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
12	George Russell	  Mercedes
13	Alexander Albon	  Williams
14	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
15	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
16	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
17	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
18	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
DNF	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
DNF	Lando Norris	  McLaren

[cmlean]

It all started happening even before the race started.
Esteban Ocon had contact with Charles Leclerc in the pit lane and incurred a 10 second penalty for the race.
Alex Albon had a setup change and had to start from pit lane.
Race start and turmoil occurred entering turn 1 when Lewis Hamilton flew into a gap and it became a game of skittles.
Fernando Alonso hit Lance Stroll who then hit Lando Norris. Norris' car war left stranded bringing out the safety car and both Aston Martins limped back to the pits. Alonso returned to the race abet at the rear of the field.
Kevin Magnussen put up a spirited defence of his 8th position however he incurred time penalties from the stewards mainly from leaving the track and gaining an advantage. His over enthusiasm did permit his Haas team mate time to escape the DRS train and claim a deserved 7th place.

Drive of the day had to go to Daniel Ricciardo who finished in 4 place after defending against Carlos Sainz for a dozen or so laps. It was the Daniel of old!

[cmlean]

Qualifying

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Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:27.241	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
2	1:27.382	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
3	1:27.455	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
4	1:27.460	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
5	1:27.594	Lando Norris	  McLaren
6	1:27.675	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
7	1:28.067	George Russell	  Mercedes
8	1:28.107	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
9	1:28.146	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
10	1:28.192	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
____________________________________________________
11	1:28.222	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
12	1:28.324	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
13	1:28.371	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
14	1:28.413	Alexander Albon	  Williams
15	1:28.427	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
____________________________________________________
16	1:28.463	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
17	1:28.487	Logan Sargeant	  Williams
18	1:28.617	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
19	1:28.619	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
20	1:28.824	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber

[cmlean]

Daniel Ricciardo is bringing into this race a 3 place grid penalty from China. His his final run in Q1 was full of errors as he pushed the RB to its limits and failed to progress into the next session.
Both Aston Martins didn't get through the Q2 session.
The temperatures were in the mid 40's C and qualifying tyres struggled to make it through the lap.

[cmlean]

Race

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Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Lando Norris	  McLaren
2	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
3	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
4	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
5	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
6	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
7	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
8	George Russell	  Mercedes
9	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
10	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
11	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
12	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
13	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
14	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
15	Daniel Ricciardo  RB
16	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
17	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
18	Alexander Albon	  Williams
19	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
DNF	Logan Sargeant	  Williams

[cmlean]

Carlos Sainz received a 5 second penalty for causing a collision with Oscar Piastri. This dropped him from 4th to 5th.
Lance Stroll received a 10 second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Kevin Magnussen received multiple penalties totaling 30 seconds.

Next: Round of Emilia Romagna '24
Date: May 17-19 2024