Six things to watch out for at the Miami Grand Prix

1. Red Bull likely to dominate again

The 2023 F1 season has kicked off with an ominous trend in its opening four races, a tale of dominance for the Red Bull team. The car is simply in its own league right now, in much the same way that Mercedes drove away from the rest of the field for the majority of the previous decade. So far, Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have shared the four race wins between them with two each, but it’s the margin of victory that has given fans and drivers plenty of cause for concern.

At the season opener in Bahrain, second placed Perez finish 27 seconds ahead of Alonso in third. In Saudi Arabia, Verstappen finished 15 seconds ahead of Alonso. In Australia, Verstappen could have easily finished 20 seconds ahead of the rest were it not for all of those red flag shenanigans. And in Azerbaijan it was Verstappen behind Perez, some 20 seconds ahead of Leclerc.

It’s been closer in qualifying, Leclerc even took pole last weekend, but the race pace of Red Bull is relentless, not to mention that unholy straight line speed advantage thanks to an incredibly effective DRS system. The Miami circuit is another composed of several high-speed sections that are bound to cater to Red Bull’s strengths, so it’s difficult to see anything other than another duel for the win between Verstappen and Perez.

2. Perez needs to make the most of another street circuit

Considering how one-sided the intra-team battle at Red Bull was in 2022, the fact that Sergio Perez is now being touted as a genuine contender for the title alongside Max Verstappen in 2023 is surprising. A quick look at the numbers shows that Perez, who currently sits just six points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ standings after four races in 2023, was actually closer to his team-mate in the title race at the same point a year ago.

The difference this year, though, is that Perez has maintained his challenge thus far with his performance on the track. Verstappen last year suffered two retirements in the opening four races, where Perez suffered just one. There has been no such unreliability for Red Bull in 2023, and it has been a straight fight between the two. But for Perez having a somewhat ropey weekend in Australia, the Red Bull pair would be level on points going into Miami.

One thing that has become clear, for whatever reason, is that Perez has developed a liking for street circuits. Of his six wins so far in F1, five of them have come at temporary venues: Azerbaijan twice, Monaco, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. He has another chance this weekend to capitalise on this trend on the streets of Miami, and a win here would take him to the top of the championship standings.

3. Verstappen will be keen to stamp his authority

That being said, Max Verstappen will be very aware of the confidence building up in the garage of his team-mate, and he will be keen to stamp that out as quickly as possible before Perez becomes a serious problem for him.

You’d say it was awfully early to start panicking, but there is evidence to suggest so far this year that Sergio Perez is performing better than he ever has, and has so far proven to be more than a match for Verstappen. Sure, Perez ‘got lucky’ in Azerbaijan thanks to the timing of the safety car, but the Mexican’s pace was such that he could well have had the beating of Verstappen anyway.

You get the sense that Verstappen is going to need to put together a solid weekend here if he wants to silence the uprising next door. Pole position and a commanding race win will be the order of the weekend.

4. Can Aston Martin return to the podium?

The surprise of the early season was Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso at the forefront. He achieved three consecutive podium finishes in the opening three rounds, but that early promise took a knock in Azerbaijan, as Aston looked to have lost its advantage over Ferrari and Mercedes.

Alonso has been the nearest challenger to Red Bull thus far, and still managed to salvage a fourth place around the streets of Baku. In the end he finished less than a second behind Charles Leclerc in third, but it certainly looked as though the teams around Aston Martin managed to make more progress in the month since the Australian Grand Prix.

It will certainly be interesting to see if the green team can fight its way back onto the podium in Miami, as the it looks to hold onto second place in the Constructors’ standings. Alonso was clearly in full ‘team mode’ in Azerbaijan as he was suggesting brake bias settings to team-mate Lance Stroll, so we’ll see whether that dynamic can continue to carry Aston Martin forwards.

5. Charles Leclerc needs his season to start soon

It feels like an awful long time since we were addressing Charles Leclerc as a genuine title contender, exactly a year ago in face. How things have changed for Ferrari’s star man, the disaster that was 2022 has continued into the early stages of 2023, and as it stands it’s difficult to see where the upturn is going to come from.

There were signs that perhaps Ferrari were on the right track in Azerbaijan. Leclerc put together a series of stunning laps in the weekend’s two qualifying sessions to take pole in both the Sprint and the grand prix, but the pace of the Red Bull remains too much over a race distance.

The question now is whether Leclerc will win at all in 2023. As it stands, it seems unlikely anyone else will outside of Red Bull outside of collisions and retirements. Charles Leclerc needs to get his season going soon, and perhaps the Miami Grand Prix, just seven days on from his most promising weekend yet, will be the perfect stage.

6. Nyck de Vries could do with a clean weekend

Before the season started, this writer predicted that Nyck de Vries would be the standout rookie in 2023. So far, the exact opposite has proven true as, for whatever reason, he has struggled to get to grips with his Alpha Tauri car.

He has lacked pace compared to his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, and last time out in Azerbaijan was his worst weekend yet. Having suffered various incidents throughout Free Practice, he failed to set a lap in qualifying following a crash in Turn Three. He then qualified last in the Sprint Shootout, but was at least able to make up some places to finish 14^th in the Sprint. His weekend came to a head in the grand prix, as he once again found the wall and retired on Lap Nine. As weekends go, this was a struggle.

So the Dutchman really needs to pull himself together and deliver this weekend. It’s another street circuit, with minimal room for error, but Nyck de Vries simply cannot afford a repeat of Azerbaijan. Team boss Franz Tost has come out in the press and defended his driver for now, but how long until we begin to see the strain if weekends like that become too common?

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.