(Miami) A few days after another double in the streets of Baku, Red Bull will aim for a fifth success in five races this weekend at the Miami Grand Prix, where Ferrari will want to confirm the upturn in Azerbaijan.
With four victories already, the domination of the Austrian single-seaters is unchallenged, even if for the first time this season, they had to give up pole position to the competition in the streets of the Azerbaijani capital, where Charles Leclerc started in the lead. running and sprinting.
For the second edition of this race contested on the Miami International Autodrome, a temporary circuit located next to Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Dolphins, the American football team, Red Bull could crush its opponents a little more, who have become accustomed this season to fighting for the crumbs left by the RB19s.
After a frustrating weekend in Baku, where he finished third in the sprint and second in the race, the reigning double world champion Max Verstappen will try to regain the top step of the podium on a circuit where he won the race. ‘last year.
“I can’t wait to be in Miami, it was a very physical circuit and it was very hot last year, we will have to be prepared for that. It really won’t be easy. It’s quite a complex circuit and the track has been resurfaced so we’ll see if that has an impact on our performance,” explained the Dutchman.
His main opponent is likely to be team-mate Sergio Perez, who had a superb weekend in Azerbaijan with victories in the sprint and the race that saw him move back just six points behind Verstappen in the world championship standings.
“I was really confident in the car in Baku and we had two perfect races, everything went in the right direction. I hope we can continue our momentum and perform very well in Miami, “said the Mexican, fourth in the Florida Grand Prix in 2022.
After making its worst start to the season since 2009, Ferrari finally raised its head in Azerbaijan and Leclerc, who had only finished one race in the top three (7th in Saudi Arabia), took the first two podiums in 2023 for the Scuderia in the sprint and in the race.
A relief for the Italian team and its French boss Frédéric Vasseur, who wants to continue this increase in power: “Miami is still a special circuit, which has the characteristics of an urban layout and which our two drivers really appreciate so I am confident on the fact that we can take another step forward with our SF-23. »
Aston Martin, for its part, will seek to consolidate its second place in the constructors’ classification and its star driver Fernando Alonso, still as consistent with a fourth place in Baku, will dearly defend his third position in the world championship.
The English team will however have to be wary of the Mercedes, which will be revengeful after a somewhat disappointing weekend in Azerbaijan, where Lewis Hamilton took sixth place and George Russell finished at the foot of the podium during the sprint.
The Miami Grand Prix will be the first stop of the season in the United States, which will host two more races this year, in Austin on October 22 and Las Vegas on November 19.