Miami Grand Prix.

It is one the Grand Prix that is known to be notoriously bad.

However, it has been 4 weeks. People are pumped and excited.

It might not be that bad, especially with all the upgrades these teams are bringing in.

The first three races have been stagnant. Mercedes dominating, then the Ferraris. McLaren trying to fit in and Red Bull lagging behind.

The fourth of the year might switch things up.

Miami track conditions aren’t that great. However, it overlaps with F2 race weekend.

The track is going to be warm. More grip. More battles.

But one thing to consider is that they only have one and a half hour of free practice since it’s sprint weekend.

This makes their upgrades difficult to test. We are going to see either a fantastic competitive weekend or a catastrophic one.

Let’s first look at the team that hypes themselves up too much.

Their iconic “Package and a half”

Ferrari.

From the first three GP, it was really obvious that they lacked their engine power.

It is impossible to swap and improve their engine in a span of a month so they decided to focus on aerodynamics.

Let’s start by talking about Macarena wings.

After stability issues in China, they have refined their rear wings by making it lighter.

It turns 270 degrees automatically reducing downforce and giving them a higher top speed. (Projected 8-10 km/h gain)

Also notice any difference in that picture?

They completely redesigned their floor.

Sidepods look more vertical trying to optimize airflow.

Again this is aerodynamics.

Oh, I forgot to add, they added and designed their new front wings.

Once again, aerodynamics.

Their intention is clear. Focus on optimizing aerodynamical flow, and close the straight-line speed with Mercedes.

Forgot to mention, they updated their power unit software where it targets to save as much energy as possible on straights and bleed energy at the worst possible time.

Sounds really good right? Impressive?

Yea, that’s been Ferrari for the last decade.

Hyping themselves up for success. If it doesn’t show on track, they go to another upgrade period.

We’ll see how they perform under immense pressure from fans.

We can finally tell if Ferrari is different this year.

We got Ferrari, then we got Mercedes polar opposites.

While Ferrari is trying to make drastic changes to give their drivers a chance, Mercedes is taking a modest approach to this GP.

Make small consistent changes, keep the lead, win the championship.

Although they are saving massive changes for Canada, their approach is way different this year.

Their upgrade leans on the same direction as Ferrari however

Aerodynamics

Multi-element front wing with redesigned end plates.

It will bring approximately 0.8-1% improvement in downforce efficiency.

Floor designed is used to stabilize W16/17 in high speed corners

Surprisingly, no battery unit software updates.

Their only struggle was in Japanese GP when Russell had battery deployment issues

Their goal is simple.

It’s a marathon not a sprint.

Incremental efficiency gain and do not lose the lead.

Why need to change when we already have a championship winning package?

Another AERODYNAMICS.

McLaren decided to change their chassis into a shorter wheelbase.

Shorter wheelbase → Reduces floor area

Reduces floor area → more downforce

The new package is described as “A completely new car from an aero standpoint”.

From Suzuka, we saw that McLaren has the car to compete with Mercedes.

They just need a little boost to make it a championship car.

What do you do when you need a little boost?

Aerodynamics

Another aerodynamics upgrade.

Sike.

Well kind of.

RedBull’s main focus has been on weight reduction.

It’s a no brainer you can’t move a car if the car is a fatass.

Max has been dealing with that for the first three GPs, which led to him considering retirement.

Seriously, how much of a shit job do you have to do to make the world’s greatest driver consider retirement.

The RB22 has been reportedly 9-19 kg overweight.

In Miami, they sought to bring a “diet” version of RB22 which can effectively lose 0.3 to 0.6 seconds per lap.

They also revised their sidepods like Ferrari for aerodynamical changes.

Their goal?

More efficient mechanical layout to win.

TO WIN.

Yea, sounds crazy for RedBull to win this year.

You know whats actually crazy. Max being down more than 100 pts mid season just to come back and finish second 2 points behind Lando.

You never know. Red Bull is always aiming high.

There is nothing much to say here.

No disrespect to Aston Martin but at most, they are improving from P21 to P19.

Honda has been their engine supplier and it has not been working so far.

Good news is, it has only been 3 GPs in.

One of the biggest downside of Honda’s engine is that the powertrain is really powerful which causes vibration.

Since Melbourne, they had vibration problems.

Engineers are working to fix aggressive vibrations in Miami.

Their approach is a lot different from these teams like Williams, Haas, Alpine, and other mid sized team.

Instead of trying to score points, they are trying to “survive”.

They are going into a “survival” mode.

They have been struggling to cross the finish line.

Maybe Miami GP is the one.

Who knows?

Yea I know.

Maybe this seems like I am lazy.(which is partially true)

But these teams have made negligible improvements during break.

All of these teams have everything in common.

They are bringing a “big package” in Canada.

Another three weeks

Although they also made some aerodynamical changes, the changes are not that significant compared to these other teams.

Shoutout Alpine who I think has a solid chance at going P5 or P4 this weekend.

Anyways, that is basically it.

It is only the fourth GP of the year and teams are bringing in big changes.

Wait for Canada, there would be bigger changes not only for the small teams, but for Ferrari and Mercedes too.

Let’s see who wins on Sunday and whose car performs the best.