MADRID, May 5. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The urban layout of Miami will test this weekend the rivalry between Ferrari and Red Bull, embodied in Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, at this start of the Formula 1 World Championship that opens an appointment on its calendar where the Spanish Carlos Sainz ( Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine) want to smile again.
The ‘great circus’ lands in the United States, a country that it considers very strategic for its expansion and to increase its popularity, and to which it will return at the end of the campaign to run in the Texan COTA. Miami is the novelty of a championship that in 2023 will also be on another urban track in lavish Las Vegas and the scene of what augurs a new duel between the ‘Cavallino Rampante’ and the ‘Toro Rojo’.
The Austrian team arrives in Florida very strengthened after experiencing a successful first Grand Prix in Europe. The Imola track, home of Ferrari, did its best by winning the race, the first in sprint format and qualifying, as well as the fastest lap. And all through his number one, the Dutchman Max Verstappen, who was confirmed as the great initial threat for a Charles Leclerc for whom things did not go well for the first time this season.
The Monegasque seconded the world champion in the sprint and in qualifying, but in the race on Sunday he rushed and turned a podium that was practically assured into a discreet sixth place, although his advantage in the World Championship is still quite large compared to Verstappen, still weighed down by his two ‘0’s in Bahrain and Australia.
The Dutchman is still at 27 points, a great distance that he hopes to reduce on a winding urban layout (19 curves), high speed, with elevation changes and with the walls very close, which is also unknown to the entire grid, which he will have to collect as much information in the free sessions for qualifying and the race.
Leclerc and Verstappen start as favorites in a Grand Prix that hopes to serve as a reaction for both Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, whose start to the World Championship is not being what they expected and marked by misfortune in both cases.
The rider from Madrid has seen how his great start to the World Championship, with two podiums in the first two races, has suddenly slowed down due to two consecutive retirements in Australia, on the second lap, and in Imola, after the start, and his attempt to fight for the title has become quite complicated.
This has caused Sainz, until Melbourne a prodigy of regularity and of always being in the points, has fallen to fifth position in the standings, with 38 points and already 48 behind his teammate at Ferrari.
For his part, Fernando Alonso also has no reason to be overly satisfied, whose misfortune has prevented him from having better results than he has achieved so far at the wheel of an Alpine that seems to have potential and is to the Asturian’s liking.
However, after adding two points in Sakhir, the two-time world champion’s score has not gained any more, with three Grand Prix already without scoring, with two retirements, in Jeddah and Imola, also shortly after the start of the race.
–SCHEDULES OF THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX.
-Friday.
20.30-21.30 Free 1.
23.30-00.30 Free 2.
-Saturday.
19.00-20.00 Free 3.
22.00-23.00 Qualification.
-Sunday.
21.30 Race.
