46 replies to this topic

[SophieB]

It's here, the race that seemingly no-one likes that much yet has just been renewed for like a million more years. All seems a bit of a shame as the crowd seem really up for a good race and probably deserve a better spectacle than the last couple of races have delivered. Ah well, there's always this year's race, eh?  And, as correctly foretold by our own Jp, the local weather can change suddenly and dramatically so a few choice thunderstorms probably won't suddenly fix everything (red flag ahoy), but we'd at least get a bit of chaos and chaos is the vital trace element at the very heart  of F1. 
 
Anyway, this is how they line up, Max Verstappen having taken pole in the week his baby daughter was born:
 

 
This is when it's on - nice to see the new sponsor has kept the proud tradition of making it all a bit hard to read.
 

 
 
The weather - keep watching the skies!
 
 

@MeteoMotorsport
·
38m
MIAMI GRAND PRIX WEATHER FORECAST

Partly sunny with a moderate to high risk of scattered thundery showers. Individual showers will be hit or miss, and some could be heavy with lightning.

A day of radar watching awaits 👀🌦️📡

http://meteomotorsport.com/f1

#F1 | #MiamiGP 🇺🇸
 
 
 
And finally, vibes.

[SenorSjon]

With lightning, aren't US open air events cancelled/delayed whenever a thunderstorm shows up within a 30 minute range from the event?

[Trust]

What are the Antonellis chances to hold people behind? How good is his racepace?

[rodlamas]

What are the Antonellis chances to hold people behind? How good is his racepace?

He probably has the pace to hold everyone behind that is not the two Mclarens and Max.

I am curious to see on degrading tires if the Williams can have better race pace than the Ferraris.

[Anderis]

What are the Antonellis chances to hold people behind? How good is his racepace?

How is anyone supposed to know such things before the race happens?

You can look at the data from FP1 and stuff but it's not always representative.

[Radion]

Max is going to win this for his daughter. No one is going to stop him.

[Beri]

Max is going to win this for his daughter. No one is going to stop him.

If so; heroics
If not; Woking takes it

[KWSN - DSM]

[KWSN - DSM]

[KWSN - DSM]

Looking at the qualifying laps seems Verstappen will be a sitting duck on dry track with DRS employed.

[SophieB]

@fergieweather

#F1 #BBCF1 #MIAMIGP SUNDAY: After yesterday's rain & delayed Sprint, today's forecast is actually a more threatening one re potential for showers/thunderstorms. Initial FIA forecast guidance advises teams of "significant chance of thundery showers", 3pm-8pm: 40% @ 4pm, 60% 5-6pm.

[Afterburner]

With lightning, aren't US open air events cancelled/delayed whenever a thunderstorm shows up within a 30 minute range from the event?

There’s usually a delay when a lightning strike is recorded within a specific radius of the event, yes. However, Florida’s pop-up thunderstorms aren’t always accompanied with cloud-to-ground lightning. Most times it’s just a LOT of water.

[Tsarwash]

It's here, the race that seemingly no-one likes that much yet has just been renewed for like a million more years. All seems a bit of a shame as the crowd seem really up for a good race and probably deserve a better spectacle than the last couple of races have delivered.
 

I noticed quite a lot of empty seats in the grandstands on the pit straight yesterday during the sprint race. It looked around 20% empty to me, from the brief helicopter shots. I wonder if the rain had anything to do with that. How much are those seats though ?
 

[sportyskells]

therefore keep the points rules in mind if there a red for ⚡️

[chhatra]

https://www.youtube....h?v=wcY_87L0t-I

Max was quicker at the end of both DRS zones despite running more wing. Really shows again how powerful their DRS is compared to McLaren.

[Thursday]

I quick look on Ticketmaster shows quite a few seats still available.

Seats in the Marina grandstand are $500+ each

[hamilton10000]

Honestly the weather forecast looks pretty concerning today. As mentioned, the potential for delays due to lightning nearby is pretty significant as that's a guaranteed 30 mins minimum lost from the 3 hour race window if it happens.

And the actually amount of rain that could hit today will render the track completely undrivable.

So I would settle in for red flags and the full 3 hours that are allowed tonight!

[TauriJ]

Yup we are in for a LONG race or No race at all

[sportyskells]

Yup we are in for a LONG race or No race at all

could f1 try monday or move the start time up?

[TauriJ]

#F1 #MiamiGP The National Weather Service is warning of possible severe thunderstorms this afternoon on the east coast of Florida. We hope none of this happens, as it will make the race impossible.

[TauriJ]

could f1 try monday or move the start time up?

Too late probably

[hamilton10000]

I'm kind of surprised, given how proactive they were in Brazil with moving the race, that there hasn't been any conversation about moving today's race earlier.

Pretty much all week it's been set for a dry morning and thunderstorms in the afternoon, and we saw how problematic it can be yesterday.

Think it's too late to change anything now, but surprising it hasn't been mentioned at all

[mclara]

Maybe because it would mean moving the race start several hours earlier?

 

The later the worse I guess.

 

Edit: A line of thunderstorms (squall line) is moving slowly from the west towards Miami. How much of this that hits the track will be difficult to predict.

If it hits it will be a SC fest

 

The only thing that can save this is the winds blowing to the north the further one approaches Miami and the shore line.

Edited by mclara, Today, 14:07.

[Kao18]

Max was quicker at the end of both DRS zones despite running more wing. Really shows again how powerful their DRS is compared to McLaren.

Are you sure? They showed a top 5 of who’s fastest on the straights during quali yesterday and they were all Mercedes powered cars.

[Mc_Silver]

Maybe because it would mean moving the race start several hours earlier?

The later the worse I guess

It looks like it would be the wisest decision.

[Red5ive]

Honestly the weather forecast looks pretty concerning today. As mentioned, the potential for delays due to lightning nearby is pretty significant as that's a guaranteed 30 mins minimum lost from the 3 hour race window if it happens.

And the actually amount of rain that could hit today will render the track completely undrivable.

So I would settle in for red flags and the full 3 hours that are allowed tonight!

 

 

On the other hand - its Florida - so thunderstorms are the norm in the afternoon but dont blanket the area - they can be localised with bright sunshine just a mile down the road.  So not guaranteed to be over the track.

[Mc_Silver]

Weather.com predicts downpour at 16.00 local time which is the exact race start time. Can they move back race start time to 13.00?

[Garagista]

As a Ferrari fan a cancelled race would be the best news possible. Sad state of affairs

[KWSN - DSM]

And this is why a race should not be backed up against darkness, 02:00 PM start time for all races in the series.

[Thursday]

I imagine if the organisers moved the start time forward they would open themselves up for a lot of law suits.

American lawyers love suing multi-billion dollar companies.

[B Squared]

I imagine if the organisers moved the start time forward they would open themselves up for a lot of law suits.
American lawyers love suing multi-billion dollar companies.

Races are sometimes moved forward for weather in the US. Indy 500 last year is a recent example.

[TauriJ]

Races are sometimes moved forward for weather in the US. Indy 500 last year is a recent example.

They cant even run with drizzle

[B Squared]

They cant even run with drizzle

That is irrelevant in the conversation that Thursday posed about no moving races forward in the US because of lawsuits. I've been to hundreds of IndyCar races over the last 60 years, I'm pretty aware of what conditions they can and do run in, but thanks for your comment on oval rain racing.

[HuddersfieldTerrier1986]

Re comparing this to Brazil last year, the forecast had long been for a very high chance of very heavy rain during the race window based on a front that was coming through, maybe a slight bit of variation in timing, but that's it, whereas my understanding is this could be a case of a pop up storm or 2 causing chaos, rather than a specific big band of rain that could be fairly well predicted the best part of a day in advance (plus we saw what happened yesterday, not much chance given of rain at all, and yet it absolutely belted it down). I noticed yesterday that at 1 point a heavy downpour literally bubbled up out of nowhere, barely 5 miles away, that had it occured over the track, nobody would've known it was coming until it was actually raining

Edited by HuddersfieldTerrier1986, Today, 15:10.

[KWSN - DSM]

I imagine if the organisers moved the start time forward they would open themselves up for a lot of law suits.

American lawyers love suing multi-billion dollar companies.

 

I mean as in all races, at all time, no night or evening races, just 02:00 PM as it was written.

 

Today in Miami they will lie where their poor decisions put them.

[KWSN - DSM]

Re comparing this to Brazil last year, the forecast had long been for a very high chance of very heavy rain during the race window based on a front that was coming through, maybe a slight bit of variation in timing, but that's it, whereas my understanding is this could be a case of a pop up storm or 2 causing chaos, rather than a specific big band of rain that could be fairly well predicted the best part of a day in advance (plus we saw what happened yesterday, not much chance given of rain at all, and yet it absolutely belted it down). I noticed yesterday that at 1 point a heavy downpour literally bubbled up out of nowhere, barely 5 miles away, that had it occured over the track, nobody would've known it was coming until it was actually raining

 

The Miami pop-ups are the very reason they should never have a race planned too late in the day.

[Goron3]

Whilst the weather looks horrible, the good news is that the track dried extremely quickly yesterday. A few minutes after the red flag the track looks much better, and we went racing on slicks after a few laps.

[KWSN - DSM]

Interesting from pit to Verstappen during qualifying:

 

[Thursday]

Races are sometimes moved forward for weather in the US. Indy 500 last year is a recent example.

I stand corrected. I always think of America being a very litigious society. I glad common sense sometimes prevails.

 

I mean as in all races, at all time, no night or evening races, just 02:00 PM as it was written.

 

Today in Miami they will lie where their poor decisions put them.

I agree about the 2pm local start time. 

Aus is late in the afternoon to help European TV watchers which I always thought was a bit soft and causes problems with low sun but why is Miami so late?

[KWSN - DSM]

I stand corrected. I always think of America being a very litigious society. I glad common sense sometimes prevails.

 

I agree about the 2pm local start time. 

Aus is late in the afternoon to help European TV watchers which I always thought was a bit soft and causes problems with low sun but why is Miami so late?

 

Part of what is F1 to me is watching at all kinds of hours during day, evening and night depending on where in the world the race is being run.

[Tsarwash]

This is when it's on - nice to see the new sponsor has kept the proud tradition of making it all a bit hard to read.
 

 
 
 

I hadn't read your post when I dicided to reply, so it is nice that great minds think alike. Somebody got paid real money to make that graphic. Somebody went to school to learn the skills to create it. And it never occurred to them that a few cycles of jpegs, the black on red becomes almost impossible to actually comprehend. Somebody made the concious decision to choose black on red, in fact it probably went through a meeting or so. How do these people manage to tie their own shoelaces without needing outside assistance ? As Bob Dylan once said, 'It's a wonder you still know how to breathe.'

[SophieB]

Tyre stuff:

 

[KWSN - DSM]

I hadn't read your post when I dicided to reply, so it is nice that great minds think alike. Somebody got paid real money to make that graphic. Somebody went to school to learn the skills to create it. And it never occurred to them that a few cycles of jpegs, the black on red becomes almost impossible to actually comprehend. Somebody made the concious decision to choose black on red, in fact it probably went through a meeting or so. How do these people manage to tie their own shoelaces without needing outside assistance ? As Bob Dylan once said, 'It's a wonder you still know how to breathe.'

 

7 minutes long, you can watch if we get a rain delay.

 

[SophieB]

@MeteoMotorsports

LATEST FORECAST — High-resolution short-range models are depicting heavy showers at or around the time of the start of the race at 16:00 local time. Note this is indicative rather than definitive, so stay tuned for nowcasting updates throughout the day.

 

#F1 | #MiamiGP

[Tsarwash]

7 minutes long, you can watch if we get a rain delay.

 

Amazing. Now I understand everything.

[IrvTheSwerve]

Going to be hit and miss it seems.

[B Squared]

Going to be hit and miss it seems.