Miami Grand Prix – crazy but fun

Miami is unique! Yes, there are lots of flamingos – on shirts, in gardens and even at the F1 circuit! Hard Rock Stadium and F1 grounds are huge. The Paddock is centred in the middle of the Miami Dolphin’s football pitch and fans can go to the third floor and look down on the team tents and people milling around.

The Miami F1 experience is very different – the commentators were pretty poor Bob! The walk down the grid prior to the main race was all about chatting to the celebrities and very little about the drivers or cars or setup or anything to do with F1 racing! However, the introducing the drivers to Will-I-Am’s 30 piece orchestra and band was fun and pretty cool. This was definitely an American race with all the razzmatazz you would expect. Curiously no-one sang their National Anthem but afterwards there was the chant of “USA,USA!”.

Miami GP has lots of different fan zones including pretend marina and beach and lots of loud music, DJs, gin bars and southern food – the ribs were amazing! However, the prices are stupidly high – $50 NZ for a burger!! Miami is also very HOT! and no sunscreen available to buy or otherwise but there are many free water stations – a godsend.

If there is a criticism it is the lack of shade. People were going to extreme lengths to find some, and the fact that our whole grandstand could not see the Screen because of the 2 storey high bars in front of it totally obscuring any view. Not good Miami!

The qualies and the race itself were really exciting. Le Clerc going off the track causing a red flag and setting the starting grid with a real mix of drivers at the front. However, the race day belonged to Red Bull again but there were plenty of other teams to look at. What happened McLaren? Alpine appeared at last, and Ferrari… well I don’t know how long those drivers are going to be at that team! Alonso – third again! Another great drive from him and Stroll managed to avoid hitting anyone (just). Mercedes did well as Hamilton fought his way up as did Russell, both showing great driving skills in a car that is not performing well. We saw lots of overtaking and competitive driving which was very cool. Overall, a great Grand Prix.