Three excellent reasons to watch the Miami Grand Prix

Sticking with the ‘three excellent reasons’ thing huh?

Yeah it’s… becoming a challenge. We went into the season all full of hope that F1 wouldn’t still be a one Dutchman show and that faith was badly misplaced. Oh well. Beats watching EastEnders.

And there’s plenty to get excited about beyond the end result, however grimly inevitable it may be. And having racked our brains for a long time (seriously) this is why we reckon you should tune in regardless.

One: things are getting spicy at Ferrari. Since the Spaniard is being kicked out of the team, he’s stopped driving like a team player and started driving like every race is an audition for another seat in 2025. And the result? The clash he and Charles Leclerc had in the sprint race in China a fortnight ago. More please!

Two: the midfield battle is genuinely close. RB, Haas, Williams, Alpine and Sauber are fighting tooth and nail for the scraps behind the top five teams, and if you’ve watched Drive to Survive you’ll know how much every point means to the backmarkers. Think of it as a relegation battle but, er, without the relegation. 

Three: Fernando Alonso is box office. Doesn’t matter if he’s battling for P1 or P11, the 42-year-old delivers entertainment every time. In China his late-race dash to seventh was one of the highlights of the race, and included an incredible, full-opposite-lock save as he almost binned his Aston chasing Lewis Hamilton. Mad skills. What will he do next?

Set the scene for me.

F1 arrives in Miami with both championships basically a foregone conclusion already: Max Verstappen comfortably leads the drivers’ standings having won four of five races so far this season, and Red Bull is running away with the constructors title. Oh.

However, the team is mired in controversy thanks to (refuted) allegations made about team boss Christian Horner, and things have taken a dramatic turn as legendary designer Adrian Newey – perhaps the single biggest influence behind Red Bull’s success – has announced his departure from the team. Woah.

So all the talk now is about where Newey might go instead, and whether Max Verstappen might follow him through the exit door despite having by far the best car on the grid. F1 is weird.

Behind Red Bull, Ferrari has established itself as best of the rest with McLaren hot on its heels, while Mercedes and Aston Martin squabble over fourth and fifth.

There isn’t much to separate everyone else, hence why there’s been gossip about F1 changing its points system to give the backmarkers more to play for. How does points for the top 12 strike you? 

What time does the Miami Grand Prix start?

If you’re watching from the UK, the Miami GP gets underway at 9pm on Sunday 5 May, exactly 24 hours after the start of qualifying on Saturday.

Of course, this isn’t a normal F1 race weekend: this is a sprint race weekend, which means less practice and more racing. The Sprint shootout begins at 9.30pm on Friday, with the Sprint itself taking place on Saturday 4 May at 5pm sharp.

Is it going to rain?

Unlikely. The forecast for Miami suggests a lovely 28 degrees and only partial cloud cover for the entirety of the race weekend, so don’t expect to see many brollies.

Gimme some history in 100 words or fewer.

Well, this won’t take long as the Miami Grand Prix is only in its third year. Max Verstappen won both editions of the race to date, with last year’s win proving to be the turning point in the championship as he recovered from ninth on the grid to take the chequered flag, humbling his pole-sitting teammate in the process. Sergio Perez’s form crumbled after that and, well, you know the rest. The Miami circuit is laid out in and around the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins NFL team. Apparently it’s a multi-porpoise venue.

The top three will be…

Gosh, this is almost as depressing as the ‘three excellent reasons’ bit. So let’s mix it up: the tension at Red Bull will explode in the form of Verstappen and Perez colliding in Turn 1, freeing up Lando Norris to take his first ever F1 win chased home by the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and the Williams of home favourite Logan Sargeant. You heard it here first.

Shock of the weekend?

Let’s go out on a limb: there will be bedlam in the stands as Lance Stroll isn’t eliminated in Q1, after which Stroll Snr will declare him world championship ready.

Where can I watch the Miami Grand Prix?

UK fans can watch on Sky Sports or Now TV… which livestreams Sky Sports. So either way, you need to get your eyeballs on Sky Sports. Which costs money.

The free way (or should we say, the free and legal way) is to wait for Channel 4’s highlights show, which this weekend will be shown at 1.30am on Monday because the race starts so late on Sunday night. Luckily, you’ve got the bank holiday to catch up on sleep. So no need to make excuses to your boss.

Qualifying and Sprint highlights will be broadcast at 1.15am on Sunday, while a Sprint shootout recap starts transmission at 9.05am on Saturday morning (in between Everybody Loves Raymond and The Simpsons).

If you’re fine with sounds but no pictures, BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Sports Extra will have live commentary throughout the weekend.