Eau Rouge is the great classic example of a bend that can only be seen up close, especially when standing at the bottom and looking up at the towering mountain that makes up the Raidillon.
But there are some circuits that, although they look good from the track, can only be properly appreciated from where they are designed to be seen: the inside of a car.
Miami’s Formula 1 circuit is one of them, as Friday morning’s Pirelli hot laps session offered an alternative perspective, one that wasn’t about admiring yachts in a fake marina or listening of a DJ at the Hard Rock Beach Club.
Sitting next to F1 safety car driver Bernd Maylander in the 577bhp Mercedes AMG GT R as he laps the track, the perception of Miami’s twists and turns is completely different than what you have from the other side of the fence.
The opening sequence of corners is very fast, and the walls are seen especially closely when Maylander pushes himself to the limit in the critical sequence of turns 4 to 6.
But there are two specific areas of the track that can only be seen from inside the car.
The first is the long curve 7 to the left that goes around the outside of the false marina. Looking to the left as you round the corner, it’s quite difficult to make out the yachts and the “water”, made of vinyl, as they are so much higher off the track.
But the drivers won’t want to look in that direction anyway because the track at that point is extremely tricky, and you need to focus on getting a good start.
The length of Turn 7 looks, on paper, similar to Istanbul’s Turn 8, as the drivers try to maximize speed throughout the length of the long corner.
However, there is one key detail that sets them apart. In order to get through Turn 8 in Turkey, the drivers do a triple apex approach, while Turn 7 in Miami is much more complex.
It narrows at the start and the wall approaches the track at the point where the drivers try to steer their car down the long starting straight. It means doing a much wider line all the way, with a V approach attack, instead of the standard U.
Bernd Maylander, driver of the Safery Car, prepared for the Pirelli Hot Laps together with Jonathan Noble, journalist from Morotsport
It feels like the drivers have to find a balance here, as they need to find the perfect line with the perfect start, but without being overly cautious.
Maylander smiles: “It’s a very technical corner. It’s going to create a lot of mistakes, and they’re going to be especially costly because it leaves you defenseless against the car behind.”
The other thing that stands out on the track is the complex of corners under the motorway towards the end of the lap.
Coming out of Turn 13, after the long right-hander around the Beach Club, the whole nature of the lap changes as you approach the chicane that has been the target of all the criticism.
Everything slows down and narrows considerably, with an upward twist to try to almost brush the inner wall and bounce over the curbs of a chicane that appears almost out of nowhere.
Then, on leaving, there is the descent to the left that takes the pilot to the long finish straight.
This area seems out of place as it doesn’t match the high-speed characteristics of the rest of the line, and it’s no wonder the drivers don’t like it very much because it’s annoying and error-prone.
But that is the exact goal of this sequence of curves. It was about having a slow section of track that would not only lead to driver error before a long straight, but also required a much smoother set-up, forcing a compromise…
What do pilots prefer? Be better prepared for high or low speeds?
Miami track designer Clive Bowen offered his thoughts: “We had to make sure we had a track that had the personality of Jekyll and Hyde, as most of the high-traction, grade-change sections require a soft setup. in the car, and then there are some high-speed sections where you want to have a hard setup to get the best aerodynamic performance and therefore lateral grip in the corners.”
“The sequence from Turn 13 through 16 is where we’re looking for that balance under the freeway overpasses. Going into Turn 14, you don’t see the apex of Turn 15 until you’re at the apex of 14. It’s what which we call an ‘error generator’, so the chance of drivers gaining positions because someone in front makes a mistake is quite high.”
Having seen the track from the co-driver’s seat of Maylander, the man who could very well top the grid at some point in Sunday’s Grand Prix, it’s no wonder the drivers are preparing for a far from easy afternoon, especially with the track so dirty off the track.
Sergio Pérez was already lamenting on Saturday night: “The race is going to be difficult. And the drivers are going to make mistakes because they have put us in this situation.”
But mistakes and a difficult track are exactly two of the perfect ingredients to put on a good show.
