After a week of break that marked the end of an intense triple header, we return back to action in the “type of town we can spend a few days in”. Remember this? From every second reel in your FYP this weekend? A very unique paddock welcomed us in Miami, as most of the buzz and crowd around didn’t as excited for the “cars going around in circles” as they did for the exclusive trackside pool club and even more exclusive celebrities they might have encountered. This weekend also saw many a special liveries with Racing Bulls rolling out strong with an excellent pink livery, their lead followed badly by Mercedes with their suit colours resembling that of the most distasteful milkshake ever! Not much to say about Ferrari except the fact that it’s great that there are no points handed out for special livery as Ferrari would have lost that too. And who really cares about the Sauber?!

An intense session that shaped up into one of the most closely sought pole chases in the final minutes of the session, and it was for anyone to grab (except Ferrari, of course). Mercedes seemed quick throughout the session, and this time it was Kimi Antonelli who benefitted from the pace and bagged his frst Pole position of his racing campaign, bringing the Kimi hype train back to the station (And also the suit seemed kinda nice now). Ferrari’s depression train however arrived early to the station as Charles crashed in the prior laps to the race. The transition from wet to dry weather helped make it an absolute banger of a race. Honestly, Lando should consider go all-in at any of the Miami casinos as luck favoured him once again with the Safety car coming out right as he entered the pit, helping him to cross the finish line in the first place ahead of his teammate, Oscar.

All the teams were forced to have a hard reset as they prepared for the qualifying for the main race, and the craziness did seem to settle down a bit as Q3 saw the usual suspects except Lewis Hamilton, who stayed back in Q2, powering the Ferrari’s depression train (The very one from Sprint). Magician Max saw a return as he pulled a Pole lap out of thin air (AGAIN), denying it to both the McLaren and Kimi continued his great run, making it to P3. Completely justifying our sleep sacrifice, Turn 1 saw some heated battles between Max and Oscar and later Max and Lando, as both the McLarens had undeniable pace. After 25 laps, the race started to settle into a rhythm, but the looming danger of rain and the Ferrari team radios took care of entertainment for the second half of the race. McLaren took this one in the bag by a country mile with Oscar-winning 3 on the bounce and the official chaos beneficiary of racing, George Russell, finishing on the podium.

It is safe to assume that we need no more races to prove how exciting this season is set to be. What once was thought to be a straight up start to end domination has now become a week-on-week, nail-biting ring of action, thrill and unpredictable consequences. From crashes, overtakes to big and bold moves on track, the momentum seems to stay with no single driver for too long. Jump in to the heat of the action by joining the Grid Master French Grand Prix Contest and make your way to the top. Will you let your intuition lead you to have an edge over others or will you play it safe with calculation? Choice is yours as we riders make their way to the fastest sweeping turns of the French Grand Prix!

Qualifying on Saturdays is everything around Monaco, right? WRONG. When we switch disciplines to fast electric cars, Monaco just comes alive as we can see head-to-head battles and brave leaps on every turn and corner of the circuit. De Vries on the second row and an Arrow McLaren car on the pole, WHICH GRAND PRIX ARE WE IN? A 4-way battle all the way through with the top 4 cars of McLaren, Mahindra and Andretti (only time we saw that this weekend was the Lego car race between drivers in Miami). Between the session long tussle between Rowland, Dennis and De Vries, Rowland came in to extend his championship lead with De Vries clinching the first podium for Mahinda in 2 years and his first podium after 2022. Round 2 saw new suspects on the front row as Buemi rose to the top to win the E-prix, but Rowland closed on his tail, making it a near-perfect finish for him and coming out further up on the points table.

This weekend saw yet another big struggle for Red Bull as the baggage of an unbalanced car was made heavier by pitstop mistakes. Max’s unsafe release during the sprint saw him not only ram into Anotonelli, but also being handed out a 10 second penalty which saw his race come undone, finishing 17th which marked his first out of points finish in any competitive session since he was 18 years of age. Horner is coping well with this turmoil in the Red Bull garage by taking petty shots at the other teams by attacking McLaren on their suspicious cooler tires and dragging George for his “potential” lift under the yellow flag. Horner can either fight the other team off-track or he could take his advice and change his f-…, anyways, the environment around Red Bull seems to deteriorate as Poles aren’t getting converted into wins, and the pitstop issues are throwing away the points they do manage to get.

OSCAR BASKAR

Presenting a brand new section of your much-loved newsletter, called DID YOU KNOW? A segment where we take random, interesting, shocking facts, trivia and stories, realising how they painted the motorsport world, how we now see and love!

Do you ever wonder what are the white chits handed out to the drivers after getting weighed? Motorsport prides itself in being the pioneer of master class engineering but it still employes a physical paper printer to inform the drivers about their weight with all the apparatus after a full racing session.