Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, Miami International Autodrome, 2022

Miami chicane may be tweaked for future races after driver complaints

2022 Miami Grand Prix

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Formula 1 will consider adapting the turn 14-15 chicane in Miami which was criticised by drivers, motorsport director Ross Brawn has said.

Drivers voiced concerns over the slow chicane and its surrounding barriers, where Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon suffered heavy crashes. No changes were made to the circuit over the weekend but Ross Brawn told the official F1 channel the chicane could be revised for future events.

“I think it can be tuned,” he said. “Those sort of complexes are always very sensitive to kerb placement and the line.”

The chicane exists in order to slow cars before the next corner, turn 16, due to the lack of space for run-off at that point on the circuit. “It’s a necessity because of the the turnpike that’s there,” said Brawn. “But I think with the experience of this year, we can tune it, we can look at car placement, we can look at how the corner entry works and so on.”

“You have to remember this is a street circuit and we sometimes forget that when we see some of the fast, open corners we’ve managed to create,” he added.

“Street circuits are challenging, they should have a variety of challenges. And the great thing about this street circuit is I think you’ll have some great racing opportunities.”

Sainz said he saw the need for the chicane but hopes it will be revised. “I think it’s still needed because there’s not a lot of space there and you need to be quite slow approaching 16 because there’s no run-off,” commented the Ferrari driver.

“We need something slow, we need something tight. It’s just the nature of the two kerbs there, the way they’re put together which is an issue.

“It’s a new track, you’re always going to go through these phases and we’re already in touch with FOM, with Ross and his team to actually sort it out and put together a better piece of circuit.”

Miami Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen added that “I think if I would have been in a go kart, it would be a nice chicane to take, but not in an F1 car like we have at the moment.

“I remember in the four laps I did on Friday, I almost knocked myself out because I hit the first kerb and your head just bounced from left to right, like at least five, six times, but really bad.

“If you just take it a tiny bit too much, just because it’s so long, so wide, so stiff and super heavy that little kerb what it is, it’s just not made for it to be honest.”

Charles Leclerc was one of few drivers to defend the corner. “I enjoyed it,” he said. “But on the other hand, I agree that for racing action, I think we can do something better because following wasn’t easy on that part.

“Also for visibility it’s quite difficult once you have a car in front because you need to be so precise on the kerbs, as mentioned already. That it makes it even more difficult to follow. But apart from that I actually quite enjoyed it.”

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2022 Miami Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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15 comments on “Miami chicane may be tweaked for future races after driver complaints”

  1. A wall in the Alonso shortcut might be necessary if he keeps racing.

    1. @proesterchen Nice one, but unnecessary, LOL.
      He did similarly in the 2018 Abu Dhabi GP, so I quickly got a deja vu feeling.

  2. Interesting point from Leclerc. For all the talk of making that section a “mistake generator” to induce overtaking, that obviously only works if it’s the driver in front that makes the mistake. If it’s the driver behind that’s getting it wrong because they can’t see the kerbs, then I guess we get what we got on Sunday.

  3. The chicane was the most interesting part of an otherwise pretty standard/dull cookie-cutter layout. So of course they’re going to change it. Just like they did in Singapore.

  4. Drivers get new chicane wrong
    Drivers complain new chicane needs to be changed

    Lol

    1. Exactly!
      Those whiners want everything to be made easy for them! SMH.

  5. Flatten and widen it ?? Replace the sausage kerbs with sawtooth kerbs ?? There doesn’t seem to be a lot of space there to work with, unless maybe they round off the entry apex of 16.

  6. It was the most interesting bit of the track to be honest…

    1. The Dolphins
      10th May 2022, 16:00

      I agree, it’s unfortunate it is buried behind some grandstands so the only way fans can see it is on a TV screen.

      The track designer termed it the “mistake generator” and it did what it was designed to do.

  7. I think it’s about time some of the drivers had a week off and just sat in front of their telly for a GP.
    See what we see. Experience what we experience. Understand what we understand.

    It’s not all about what the competitors and stakeholders want – or at least it shouldn’t be.

    IMO, the chicane at Miami is a nice little technical challenge amongst all the high speed, flowing monotony and repetition.
    Breaks it up nicely, and is the only part of the track where you can instantly tell which corner it is.
    Chuck some Tecpro in front of the concrete barriers and leave the track alone.

  8. Just cut the chicken altogether.

    1. Why did the chicane cross the road?

      1. To get to the DRS detection point.

  9. Drivers voiced concerns over the slow chicane and its surrounding barriers, where Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon suffered heavy crashes.

    To be precise, Sainz and Ocon didn’t crash in the chicane but in the corner before it.

    Not only the chicane itself is tight, but it is extra complicated by the fact that the drivers had to squeeze the exit of the chicane in order to lign up for the next corner leading to the straight.

    I agree with others that although it is an awkward chicane, it is unique and recognisable. I wouldn’t mind that it stays, but perhaps it needs to be smoothed just a little bit.

  10. The section between turns 13-16 was the worst part of the track. The slow off-camber corners with sausage kerbs made it very difficult to follow. It only created a corcetina effect, resulting in almost no overtaking on the back straight before T17.
    They should flatten out the kerbs, remove the ‘sausages’ and turn T14 & 15 into a more fluent chicane (similar to the swimming pool chicane at Monaco, just slower).

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