Lights Out: The fight to keep form in Florida

With all eyes on Red Bull, who is hoping to snuff out any sign of faltering confidence following the announcement of chief technical officer Adrian Newey’s departure this week, Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix may provide the defending constructor’s champion a timely ego boost, if their 2023 performance at this track is anything to go by.

In case you need to jog your memory of the 2023 race, Max Verstappen fought from a ninth-place start to the top step of the podium, with Sergio Pérez taking second place 5.384 seconds after him. Both Red Bulls drivers finished an impressive 26.305 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.

While the pack has very slowly started to catch up to the Red Bulls, there is yet a long way to go before the Milton Keynes team loses their current traction.

While the unique asphalt blend that surfaces the Miami International Autodrome is said to have the texture of “shards of glass”, Pirelli have not availed the hardest tyre compounds in their arsenal ? instead opting for C2 and C3 race tyres with the C4 as a Q3 tyre; exactly the same as during the 2023 Miami Grand Prix.

Team Alpine are still trying desperately to claw their way ahead of Williams and Stake, with all three still grappling to get a single point on the board.

The French-based constructor Alpine’s way to do this is to appoint David Sanchez as their executive technical director, after the role of technical director was infamously split due to the team's poor performance.

McLaren and Mercedes may equally grapple for championship order over this sprint weekend, as both are said to bring notable upgrades.

With rain expected in patches over Saturday and Sunday in Miami, technical decisions or a few upgrades may be the key to triumph over F1's Great Equalizer.

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