How imperfect Miami offered F1's drivers a unique challenge

OPINION: Despite all of the stylistic embellishments festooning Formula 1's inaugural Miami Grand Prix, the Miami International Autodrome offered the drivers a unique challenge and punished driver errors; a stark contrast to the usual cast of modern-day circuits

For the next 800 words or so, it is immaterial to me that the Miami Grand Prix was a blockbuster event set in a glamorous location that attracted a host of famous faces and was designed to be photogenic. The 3.36-mile configuration could just as well have been plonked in an anonymous Lincolnshire field, Formula 1 having struggled to sell a single ticket, and I would still be about to defend the circuit’s credentials.

The cars looked superb lapping by themselves during practice and then in qualifying. They were yawing through the high-speed sweeps and jolting over the kerbs in the difficult stop and extremely tight direction change of the Turn 14-15 chicane. At a brand-new venue where drivers had to quickly correlate their reference points from the simulator with real-world conditions, we saw a pleasing divergence in lines.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.