Let’s be honest here folks – This was the one we were all circling on the calendars. One of the most heavily anticipated and hyped races ever seen in F1, and we extended our show to compensate. Buckle up, because this one is wild.
We had to talk about the hype going in. This was so heavily promoted that we had a Wednesday night concert with all the drivers and team bosses before a wheel was even turned. Oh and a fake marina went viral. That happened. Influencers and celebs galore. David Beckham, Michael Jordan, JJ and TJ Watt, Francois Bourgeois and many, many more to name but a few.
The race itself was never going to live up to expectation but we still thought it was alright. Max Verstappen had to survive a late storm from Charles Leclerc after a safety car turned the race into an 11 lap sprint, but the midfield quickly became a bar fight with Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly and Mick Schumacher all committing nasty acts of racecraft. Mick’s was on Vettel, in a pure Top 10 Anime Betrayals moment.
We also talk about Lewis Hamilton and Jewellery gate after the former decided to kickback hard over the FIA’s enforcement of a 15-year old rule that seemingly got swept under the rug. We tried to add a nuanced perspective as to why it isn’t just Lewis being targeted, and the logic behind the enforcement. It’s NOT as simple as you think.
And we talk Miami as a whole. This GP is definitely here to stay, but does it fit amongst F1’s new world order? Is the $17.50 lemonades and $640 grandstand seats a turn off? Does F1 have an accessibility problem? We try to make sense of it at the end of the show.
It’s a special hour-long edition of Motorsport101, enjoy!