There were lots of incidents in FP1 and especially FP2. Something seems off with the track; I don’t know if there are issues with the pavement, but the cars seem to have some grip issues. I think Saturday may end up being more of the same, with some FP3 incidents, maybe even causing some cars to not be ready for qualifying. And who knows, maybe an incident in qualifying causing some drivers to not get a good lap qualifying.

Williams is sure spending a lot of money keeping Latifi in a car. With Mazepin gone, Latifi seems to be the new crash/spin king.


-rb

The way I look at it , the track conditions are the same for everyone . Drivers will adapt with the help of their engineers . If grip levels aren't at a premium then drivers with " good touch " can rise to the top . I am no fan of crash fests so hopefully we will get a good qualy session today and a solid race tomorrow .

The location is a "best we could do' situation. F1 wanted in the worst way to stage this race in Miami along the beaches. The City of Miami was having none of it - the expense, the disruption, the complaints from property owners, etc. They tried many times and eventually gave up. So they built another parking lot grand prix. :rolleyes:

Yesterday in FP 1 and 2 they were talking about resurfacing that had to be done in at least one area where the pavement was coming apart. The company used some sort of glue and tried a fix. No telling if it worked.

Checo and Lando are both unhappy with the track. Poor off line grip and very bumpy.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12607266/miami-gp-lando-norris-and-sergio-perez-criticise-miami-track-punishing-conditions

I sure hope the pace Haas showed in FP3 is there for qualifying. Mick was 6th and Kmag 8th . What happened to Mercs FP2 pace ? Wow they are way off . Would love to see Albon qualify well .

several places on that track are
single file only
so what happens during qualifying
when traffic is backed up and cars
can't get a good run?
hopefully it doesn't turn out that way
but I'm skeptical

Disappointed in the Haas pace ☹️but at least Mick out qualified his teammate . Great effort by Bottas should be interesting with him starting next to Hammy . Congratulations to the front row they are blistering fast .

Haha. Murrica. So fake and plastic.

Catered by TGI Fridays and Golden Corral.

Got to love it 🤣

This is F1/Liberty Media itself who came up with this. The fake marina, fake beach, etc. is all on them. So many awesome permanent circuits in the US but it's all about getting non-motorsport fans and Netflix viewers in the seats. The longtime hardcore fans have been priced out and abandoned.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1651960055.jpg

George Russell was having some big troubles in qualifying today, and couldn’t make it out of Q2. But they were showing some good top end pace.

From what I saw, the Red Bulls were hitting the highest top speeds, with Checo reaching 336kph and Max reaching 337kph. The best that others cars were doing was about 7-8kph less.

I really figured that Latifi would have “practiced himself” out of qualifying, didn’t expect Ocon to do that. But maybe Latifi is holding back to disrupt the race tomorrow. SOMEBODY is gonna spin and crash at Turn 14.


-rb

Happy with the qualifying results. The start is going to be very interesting. I was surprised to see Mick qualify better than Kevin.

Danica Patrick did a nice job with the post-qualifying interviews.

Too bad the drivers say the surface is no good. I’ve not seen much on tv yet but from all I’ve heard this will not be good.

I don't think F1 drivers ever like the surface. They can't complain about the car and nothing is their fault so it must be the track.

Glad for Bottas
 

Qualified up there with the big boys, I wish him the best.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1652010683.jpg

If what the drivers are saying about the track surface is accurate I fear this will be a follow the leader single file race . If there is minimal traction offline passing will be very difficult . I hope I am wrong .

Agree Curt, it's a different spectator crowd at street circuits.
At the Long Beach grand prix the big crowds are here to party and drink beer all day.
I like Long Beach but the spectators are a different crowd from the race fans I see at our local amateur races. People don't drink beer all day at our races. lol
The Miami track has that terrible uphill kink/chicane, not worthy of F1.
F1 should be at at Road America. :)

Holy scheiss. I came across an article that mentioned how the tickets for "Luxury Row" (the "marina") were $9500!!!


Long Beach is the most "fun" race I've ever been to. You could be a total non-race fan and still enjoy the day. I don't think half the people in the restaurants along Shoreline Drive and in the Hyatt bar even care there are races going on. Then there's the convention center with the "Lifestyle Expo", now Acura has their hospitality area beyond the hairpin, etc.

That kink/chicane in Miami (and the subsequent lead onto the back straight) is absolutely terrible. It looks like you're getting lost in an urban construction zone like Boston's Big Dig.

But yeah, the track most befitting F1 in the U.S. is perhaps Road America. Too bad Elkhart Lake's in Wisconsin.

pre-race on. just barfed my breakfast. not sure i can last until the race

Road America would be a great track for F1.

So would:

Watkins Glen (again!)
Laguna Seca
VIR

The problem with any of these tracks is the ability of the surrounding infrastructure and community to support an F1 crowd. Bringing 150k people to a small rural area just doesn’t work. There isn’t enough dining, lodging, parking, traffic capacity, etc.


-rb

From what I can see, the resellers (Ticketmaster, Stubhub, etc.) bought all the tickets and the event was sold out the first day. Good for Liberty Media because they can say they have a sell-out. Since I'm only a couple hours away, some buddies and I wanted to go. We've been monitoring prices for months. At one point, even Friday practice seats started at $900. Raceday? $1800-$5000 each. We finally gave up planning. Friday morning, those $900 seats were down to $100. Of course there are tons of unsold tickets for today right now and they're down a bit but still $600 and up. :rolleyes: I get it, they are after a different customer these days.