"It was a bit of a necessary evil" - F1 Miami GP organizers defend presence of chicane complained about by drivers

Despite the hype surrounding it, the inaugural F1 Miami GP failed to deliver on the track to the extent that many thought it would. Even the drivers were somewhat at odds with the track, especially both Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz, who crashed near the contentious turn 14/15 chicane.

Both felt that techpro barriers needed to be placed in that particular area in front of the wall. Managing partner Tom Garfinkel told Autosport that they were open to making changes to improve the track.

“I think the challenge with the [turn 14/15] chicane and I don’t know that we communicated well enough why it exists and where it exists. It was a bit of a necessary evil, if you will, to get the track big enough to create the rest of the race track to be great. That’s an area where it’s a tricky part because we have to really slow people down because we didn’t have enough run-off space.

Tom also said that after talking to the representatives from both F1 and FIA, he found out that there were areas where changes could be made to make the track better.

“I think from talking to some folks at F1 and the FIA, I think there’s an opportunity to maybe change that a little bit to make it better. But it’s a bit of a necessary evil through there to get them to slow down.”

A rather lukewarm start to Miami GP's F1 journey

The first Miami GP was not the one that was advertised to the fans. The track still had a lot of teething issues that prevented the race from being the spectacle that it could have been. The track tarmac did not hold up to the stresses of the F1 cars and the rather hot weather in Miami. As a result, there was only one racing line possible for the cars, leading to much fewer avenues for overtaking.

Not only this, but the DRS zones were not as conducive to overtakes as should have been the case on this track. The worst of all was the Turn 14/15 area that left both Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon heavily bruised. The Miami GP might need to make a few tweaks before it is able to produce the kind of spectacle it was touted to this sesaon.