2024 Miami Grand Prix Wrap Up

Staff Writer Will Black covers the events of the Miami Grand Prix from earlier this month

A debut win, a surprising Ricciardo performance, and 65 seconds worth of penalties. Let’s wrap up the 2024 Miami GP.

The Sprint

Miami brought us the second sprint weekend in a row. If you’re unsure of how the sprint format works you can get a quick understanding here. 

The sprint brought a quick bit of drama right away. On turn one of the opening lap Lando Norris was taken out into a spin following a three car squeeze. Lewis Hamilton squeezed Fernando Alonso, who then squeezed into his teammate Lance Stroll eventually leading to Norris’ spin. The events were deemed a racing incident, but Stroll was forced to retire alongside Norris and Alonso dropped all the way to P18.

The most surprising result on Friday came with Daniel Riccardo putting his RB in P4. It was expected that he would drop down the order throughout the race but he managed to cling on to P4 till the chequered flag. He defended well against Carlos Sainz’ Ferrari who finished P5.

Lower down the order, Kevin Magnussen managed to rack up a massive 35 seconds worth of penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage for exceeding track limits. Much like in Bahrain, Magnussen took his initial penalty in his stride and continued to defend against Lewis Hamilton, securing his teammate Nico Hulkenburg’s P7 finish. Hamilton was also slapped with a 20 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. The race finished with solid drives from Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc who finished P1 and P2. The podium was finished off with Sergio Perez who maintained P3 after a short battle with Ricciardo at the start of the race.

Sprint Results

The Grand Prix

Alpine

The French team showed a lot more pace than previous weekends. It seems that Alpine are steadily improving and that paid off with Esteban Ocon getting the first point for the team in 2024 with a finish in P10. Pierre Gasly was unable to match Ocon’s pace however, ending the race P12.

Aston Martin

Despite the rocky start to the weekend or Aston, Alonso was able to show a masterclass in overtaking going from P15 to P9 on Sunday. Teammate Stroll was unable to replicate Alonso’s success and took a 10 second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on Williams’ Alex Albon. He finished the race P17.

Ferrari 

The Ferrari’s had a great qualifying with Leclerc starting the race P2 and his teammate Sainz in P3. The two didn’t start particularly well however, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri was able to push into podium position past both drivers. Towards the end of the race Sainz found himself battling Piastri for P5. Sainz knocked into Piastri’s rear wing, causing damage to the Australian and forcing a pit. Leclerc maintained a podium position and ended P3. The podium for Ferrari isn’t the only news for the Scuderia however. The team have now taken on a title sponsor becoming Ferrari HP. The team featured a blue (ish) car in Miami which was based on the classic Ferrari colours azzuro la plata and azzuro Dino. 

Haas

Much like in Saturday’s sprint, Magnussen displayed some incredibly aggressive driving. He took another 10 second penalty for causing a collision with Logan Sargeant which knocked the latter out of the race. It seemed as though Magnussen was trying to get every penalty possible from the FIA as he got another 20 second penalty for going into the pits and not changing tyres. The brings his total penalties for the weekend to six, that’s 65 seconds worth of penalties. After the penalties he was classified at P19. Hulkenburg, on the other hand, ran well throughout but finished just outside the points at P11. Outside of the racing Hulkenburg has been confirmed to join Sauber for next year which will become Audi in 2026. 

Kick Sauber

Sauber didn’t show much edge this weekend, much like every other weekend, and Zhou Guanyu and Valterri Bottas did not challenge much. The two drivers finished P14 and P16 respectively. Sauber still have a long way to go before they can get into points contention.

Mercedes

Mercedes were again relatively underwhelming at the start of the race. George Russel didn’t shine and maintained a low points position throughout. Hamilton did show some spark in the latter stages of the race as he lit up his medium tyres but still only managed a P6 finish. Russell ended the race P8. Mercedes brough an upgrade package this weekend with a new floor and new front wing. Supposedly this was too allow for a lower downforce rear wing but it doesn’t seem like the German team’s changes have allowed for better race results. 

McLaren

The most exciting news comes from McLaren this week as Lando Norris was able to achieve his first ever Grand Prix win. Let’s start with Piastri who had a great start but was unfortunate with his run in with Sainz which sadly pushed him down the order as he was forced into a late pit stop due to damage. His race finished in P13. Norris’ story is much different. He started the race P5 and had a solid start and maintained position well. The big change came after Verstappen hit a cone coming through the final chicane which bounced on to the track. This then brought out the safety car which Lando a premium time to pit, undercutting the positions above him. After the rest of the pack pitted he found himself leading the race and was able to maintain that position granting him the privilege of a top step finish and his first race win. Norris’ win could very well be partly due to McLaren’s upgrade package this weekend which included ten upgrades. This includes a new front suspension, a new front brake duct to work better in low speed corners, a new rear wing and a new rear suspension. 

RB

After a great performance in the sprint, Ricciardo seemed to lose the same form he had demonstrated just a day before. He qualified in P18 and was pushed to P20 due to a three place grid penalty in China. He was only able to improve to P15, following a DNF from Sargeant and penalties to Magnussen. Yuki Tsudona drove much better and managed P7 granting more important points for RB.

Red Bull

The Red Bulls didn’t seem to be running quite as smoothly as they have been in recent weeks. Perez has a tough start and dropped positions but his teammate Verstappen was running with clinical from before his aforementioned run in with a cone. While there were rumours Verstappen faced damage following the incident the driver himself confirmed there was no damage, giving even more confidence to McLaren fans that the Papayas might be in contention for even more race wins later in the calendar. Verstappen finished behind Norris in P2 with Perez only managing P4. Outside of the race weekend the biggest news for Red Bull was Adrien Newey’s confirmed departure. The engineer is one of the most successful F1 car designers in history, with 12 constructor’s championships under his belt with three different teams; Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull. It is unconfirmed where Newey will head after Red Bull but rumours around the paddock seem to point towards Ferrari. 

Williams

Much like in China, Logan Sargeant seemed to be running well but was taken out by Magnussen forcing a DNF. Similarly on lap 54 Albon made a mistake with a big lock up and was forced all the way down to P19. He was unable to improve and finished P18.

Results

Looking Ahead

Race 7: Italy, Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, May 17-19