Formula 1 Heads to Miami With Plenty of Behind the Scenes Drama
The FIA’s Formula 1 World Championship comes to the United States for the first of three races this week, heading to Miami for the sixth of 24 scheduled contests. This is the longest season F1 in memory, one that will test all ten teams, their drivers and reserves, the ability of the cars to withstand both the travel and the competition and the crews that service the race cars. Everyone that travels with this circus should be ready for holidays once the final round in Abu Dhabi rolls around the second week of December.
Ah, but here it is, the first weekend of May and everyone is still thinking about this year and what to do about Red Bull Racing and its three-time consecutive champion Max Verstappen. He’s won four out of five contests; Carlos Sainz brought victory for Ferrari in Australia, when Verstappen failed to complete the distance. It was a nice change from the usual.
Behind the scenes, there’s plenty going on, particularly with both Red Bull and Ferrari. Next year, seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton will be dressed in Ferrari red, leaving the Mercedes-AMG squad where he’s gained the largest share of his successes. There’s a boatload of drivers lining up outside team principal Toto Wolff’s office wondering if they can take over that ride. This week, to celebrate a partnership with WhatsApp, Hamilton did burnouts in the center of New York City.
Formula 1 is rumor city; no matter whether anybody believes these rumors, they start quickly, spread even more rapidly and take over conversations, making competition kind of a second tier part of the F1 circus.
And as teams land in Miami, Red Bull is dealing with internal strife, as the team’s chief technology officer, Adrian Newey, is leaving the team at the close of this season, it was announced the first day of May. Managing director Christian Horner is the eye of this storm, as rumors – that word again – swirl concerning his behavior around a female employee of the team.
If any readers think this is unusual, trust me it’s not. Not unusual in F1, in INDYCAR, NASCAR and, truly, most motorsports entities. There’s always something going on behind closed doors. Horner was cleared by the team following an internal investigation, but the employee complainant is appealing that verdict. It makes for a sticky atmosphere at a team that seems poised to take a fourth straight title with Verstappen.
Newey’s not happy being around this kind of tension and his contract, which is supposed to continue through the 2025 season is currently being reworded to allow his departure. If you think the driver market is expensive, how about the guy who’s designed all of those winning cars?
Newey gained fame working in IMSA’s early GTP class, where he designed the March sports car back in 1983 and 1984; his INDYCAR project, the March 85C was both a championship and Indianapolis 500 winner. Newey’s understanding of race engineering, aerodynamics are legendary. The 65-year-old Newey has been in Formula One since 1988, where he worked with March/Leyton House, then on to Williams (when they weren’t running at the rear), McLaren during the start of its Mercedes years and his current team, joining Red Bull in 2006.
The Red Bull team stated that Newey was leaving after 19 years and that he “steps back from design work and will continue to attend specific races to support the team trackside to the end of the 2024 season. Adrian will focus on final development and delivery of Red Bull’s first hypercar, his highly anticipated RB17 set to be unveiled at Goodwood in May,” the team said, stating the architect of seven F1 drivers’ and six constructors’ titles (118 wins and 101 poles) would depart the first quarter of next year.
In the meantime, Michael Andretti has purchased property in the UK for his proposed F1 team, this despite a negative response from the 10 teams currently competing in the series. Andretti got an okay from the FIA, but the piranhas are being a bit more cagey about letting him into their club. With three US-based races, it would be a win-win situation for Formula One Management, but hard to say whether he’ll be allowed to play in their sandbox.
Speaking of sand, there will be a Sprint race at Miami this weekend, only the second of the year and first for the South Florida race. This means qualifying for the sprint on Friday, and qualifying for the primary race on Saturday. It will be interesting to see which teams rise to this added challenge on a purpose-built and temporary track like the one in downtown Miami. “We’re ready for Miami and the first US race of the year,” noted Toto Wolff. “It is a challenging circuit and, with the second Sprint of 2024, will provide another interesting test for the team.”
Looking to the balance of the field, one team that’s moving forward is McLaren, whose driver Lando Norris owns a pair of podium results thus far in the young season. While not quite on par with Ferrari coming into this event, where the Scuderia has a special bodywork scheme to show off, McLaren appears to be on the upward track. Individually, Fernando Alonso has dedicated himself to the Aston Martin team, even once he hangs up his helmet, and has shown he’s capable of gaining points for the squad and being the kind of leader any team might want. Surely he’d like to take on the Indianapolis 500 a third time, but it’s not a “now” thing for the Spanish driver.
Every team in the F1 paddock has upgrades at every contest, and it’s no different this weekend, where Alpine’s major upgrades to its floor is also the team’s hope for better results. Results thus far favor Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, with Aston Martin’s two drivers landing in the top 10: Verstappen and Perez lead the points chase for Red Bull, followed by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz for Ferrari, McLaren Mercedes drivers Norris and Oscar Piastri, George Russell of Mercedes-AMG, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin.
The schedule this weekend includes an initial practice and Sprint qualifying on Friday, the Sprint and race qualifying on Saturday with the primary event set for 1PM EDT, shown on ABC, ESPN+ and in Spanish on ESPN Deportes.