Can Sergio Perez make another street circuit statement against Max Verstappen? F1 Miami GP talking points
Can Perez stay ahead of Verstappen?
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sergio Perez reignited his F1 world championship bid with victory in last weekend’s 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and he now has an opportunity to maintain his momentum 🃏in Miami.
Five of Perez’s six grand prix wins (and all of his Red Bull victories) have come at street circuits, and we now head to a second street-track spectacular in as many weekends at the Miami Internat⛄ional Autodrome.&nbs✨p;
Perez has a new-found confidence with his double Baku success confirming - in his mind at least - that he can genuinely take the fight to Red Bull teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen this year.
The Mexican enjoyed a nine-point 🥂swing over Verstappen during a near-perfect weekend in Azerbaijan to head to Miami just six points behind in the championship.
Perez has never won two races on the trot befoꦑre but knows that if he manages to pull it off, he could leaꦉpfrog Verstappen at the top of the standings heading into the European leg of the season.
Will F1’s ‘king of the streets’ strike again on coronation weekend, or can Verstappen do the double in Miami t꧅o re💎turn to winning ways?
The start of Ferrari’s upgrade push
Despite bringing no upgrades to Baku, Ferrari enjoyed their strongest weekend of the season so far as168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Charles Leclerc beat the Red Bulls to pole position f👍or the sprint and main grand pri🌼x.
However, Ferrari proved no match for🧸 Red Bull’s superior race-pace🐻 as Leclerc slipped behind Perez in the sprint, and was subjected to a lonely run to a distant third place on Sunday after being passed by both Red Bulls early on.
Baku marked Ferr🤡ari’s most competitive showing of the season but also underlined the Italian outfit’s issues when it comes to managing tyres over a race stint - the SF23’s major weakness against the dꦿominant RB19.
There is good news on the ♚horizon for Ferrari, however, with team principal Fred Vasseur confirming that his side will start bringing updates to their car this weekend in Miami in a bid to reduce their deficit to championship leaders Red Bull.
"We will start to bring updates on the car fꦓrom Miami and for the next couple of events and we will see how the car will react to the updates," Vasseur said.
"The update is one thing b♎ut t💯he fact that you are able to extract all of the potential out of the update is another one."
12 months ago♛ in Miami, Leclerc demonstrated the one-lap pace of the Ferrari but lost out in the race to Verstappen. Will we see a similar story this time around?
More damage limitation for Mercedes?
After their uptick in form in Melbourne translated into⛦ a podium, Mercedes ended up being the fourth-fastest team in Baku as they s♛lipped back behind both Ferrari and Aston Martin.
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton turned in a strong recovery drive to take sixth after dropping to 10th following an unfortunately-timed Safety Car, while teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell finished eighth behind168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.
Following Sunday’s race, the seven-time world champion admitted he is168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: “counting down the days” until Mercedes’ first major upgrade arriಞves.
Mercedes have been working on significant developments to their troubled W14 car that are planned to be introduced at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 💎towards the end of this month.
Until the new parts - which Hamilton hopes will bring Mercedes “more in the fight” - arrive, it is set to be a case of the Silver Arrows making the mo🌱st out of what they have in Miami.
"Miami should hopefully be better pace wise than here,” Hamilton said. “Last year we were bounc📖ing there a lot so I think we're in a much better placꦇe with our car this year.
"I hope we're a little bit closer to the guys there, we might not💧 be as close to the Red Bulls because they're rapid but if we can fight the Astons that would be amazing."
Can F1's erratic rookies get off the mark?
The 2023 season has been something of a baptism of fire for F1 rookies 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Nyck de Vries and168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: Logan Sargeant so far.
Sargeant was making genuine improvement in Baku as he reached Q2 for the first time, before a crash in sprint qualifying ruled him out of the sprint race. The American slipped to 16th in Sunday’s grand prix while Williams teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Alex Albon finished just outside of the po🅷ints in 12th.
Williams’ 2023 ꦦcar has shown flashes of top-10 promise and Florida-born Sargeant will be hoping he can hook up his best weekend yet at his first of three home grands prix.
F1’s other ‘rookie’ de Vries finds himself under pressure after 🍎his torrid start to his first full-season continued with another poor wee🧸kend in Azerbaijan.
The Dutchman crashed out of Sunday’s grand prix while AlphaTauri teammate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Yuki Tsunoda ൩maximised the performance of his AT04 to claim the final point on offer in 10th.
After shouldering the blame for his Baku shunt, de Vries, who has been no match for Tsunod﷽a, will be grateful of the immediate chance to reset as he eyeꦑs a much-needed clean weekend in Miami.
Lewis regular𝓀ly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world. Often repor🐼ting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
