Pilots criticize the chicane of the Miami Grand Prix

For the first ever Miami Grand Prix, the drivers were inevitably discovering a brand new track. Among its distinctive sections, the chicane of turns 14 and 15, passing under the Florida highway, is surely the one that left the most lasting impression. And not necessarily a good one, at least not for the drivers.

Several of them came back after the weekend to share their impressions of this section of the circuit.

Carlos Sainz, who had an accident in this part of the track during the tests, admitted that he was not at all thrilled with this chicane. When you go over these curbs with this generation of cars, which are wide and heavy, you almost feel like you need a bit of luck to negotiate them properly, and it’s often at a strange angle where the car bounces a lot, but sometimes it stays glued to the ground and you gain a tenth or two. It’s a chicane that is not natural.

Leclerc shared.

The sentiment is the same for the reigning world champion Max Verstappen. « If I had been in a go-kart, it would have been a nice chicane to take, but not in an F1 car like we currently have. If you take it [the first rumble strip] even just a little bit too much, simply because it is so long, so wide, so rigid, and super heavy, it’s just not designed for it, to be honest. »

Charles Leclerc tells him that he really likes this chicane, but still ends up joining Verstappen and Sainz in the end. For the action, I think we can do something better because following each other was not easy in this part. Also, for visibility, it’s quite difficult once you have a car in front because you have to be so precise on the kerbs. […] This makes it even more difficult to follow each other.

Appointment next year to see if any changes will be made, and if the drivers will be listened to. Time to change the layout over the years is not lacking in Miami, as the Florida city has signed a ten-year contract with F1.