The first Miami GP is upon us and even before the first practice, this GP is already looking like one of the events and venues on the F1 Calendar. If you have not already noticed, the amount of celebrity + driver publicity stunts this week has been through the roof! You have Jordon, James Corden, Brady, a Basketball game appearance, the first throw at the Marlin game, and many others. This is probably the biggest spectacle of a GP I’ve seen in recent years, and I think it is for the best, especially in comparison to Monaco.
Why?
While Monaco has a long history in F1, it is exclusive to the rich and famous. Monaco is one of those places where you watch to see how the rich live and experience a GP. But dare I say, this visible economic gap is not very marketable in today’s cultural trend. Even though F1 is a rich person’s game, the aim is to make it approachable and accessible to common folks like us, hence, the Netflix series. The Miami GP seems to hit all the right spots with celebrities and cross-overs with other sport personalities. It makes F1 feel more like a tail gate event than a stuffy upper-class tea party.
So do I wish Miami will become the new crown jewel of F1? Yes, and maybe even next year’s Vegas GP also!
So what about the drivers? Well, there are no data on this race, and everything is just hype at the moment. The big question everyone has about this GP is will Mercedes deliver the fixes it needs to move back up to the front. Nobody knows, and we may find out in a few hours at the practices. But who knows, maybe Hamilton won’t even get to race because he refuses to take off his jewellery? The Miami spectacle is getting more intriguing every hour!
For me, I find Zhou Guanyu’s performance to be interesting: He has not DNF yet! Compared to Latifi who is crashing like money is no issue… which really isn’t for his family. But Zhou seems to be one of the most consistent rookies in recent years, and I expect him to get better and more mature with each race. He seems solid!
Anyhow, I am looking forward to this GP and I hope the track gives the many new US fans what they hope for!
Meme of the Grid:
Bonus, because Miami:
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