Dos papayas al precio de una (SPA-ENG)

Two papayas for the price of one

And then came the Miami race, the first of the three Grand Prix scheduled for this year in the United States of America, with the remaining races in Austin (the Grand Prix of the Americas) and the Las Vegas Grand Prix at the circuit in that city still several months away.

The weekend had started busy with the sprint race, which saw rain, crashes, retirements, and several penalties. I discussed this in my previous post.

Sunday began with a weather forecast that once again cast uncertainty over the race. Heavy rain and thunderstorms were expected right around the race's scheduled time window. There was even speculation about the race being cancelled if the thunderstorm forecast came to pass.

It remained merely an anecdote, as none of this happened, and the forecast was wrong. This is a relief for me, as I sometimes think everything outside is better than what we have. Obviously, and at least in this area of ​​meteorology, everyone makes mistakes that make them look ridiculous on more than one occasion.

The race started excitingly from the very first moment, when champion Max Verstappen overshot turn one while braking too hard, trying to prevent Norris from snatching the lead. However, he quickly returned and retained the lead, leaving the McLaren driver's number 4 car without a track at the next corner. This cost him several positions, and although Max's maneuver was on the verge of a penalty, nothing happened.

The excitement continued in the following laps as Australian Piastri, driving the other McLaren, once again gained ground on the young Antonelli, who in these situations showed he still lacked experience despite being incredibly fast. Untethered from the Mercedes, Piastri quickly began to chip away at the Red Bull's advantage. A couple of wonderful laps followed, where the champion defended himself well against the onslaught of the Papaya single-seater, but ultimately had to surrender to a brilliant maneuver where Piastri overtook him, proving that this guy is capable of great things.

But it didn't end there. Norris, who had overtaken both Mercedes drivers, began to quickly close in on Verstappen, and then came the best laps of the competition. First with the chase, then with the overtake of Norris, and then Verstappen, who was putting his position at a premium. Finally, the British driver overtook the Dutchman and quickly pulled away, although this game of chasing and overtaking cost him almost 9 seconds over his teammate, something that defined the race despite his subsequent closeness.

There was also a fight at the back and some contact. At the start, two rookies were involved, but they weren't having a good time. There was a collision between Doohan and Lawson, which caused the Alpine driver to retire early. He still can't achieve a convincing result. His dream ended before completing the first lap. Lawson's RB suffered damage that caused him to retire midway through the race.

The Ferraris had their show. Hamilton switched from hard tires to intermediates, and Leclerc, using a different strategy, switched from the mediums he had started with to hards. It turned out that Leclerc was ahead of the former champion, and the latter, with faster tires, was insistently requesting passage over the radio. He wanted to chase down Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes, which wasn't performing at its best, and the Monegasque was running slower. After many laps where the Englishman's radio insisted on requesting permission to pass, the order came, and as is often the case with Ferrari, it was too late. Hamilton's yellow tires had been put through their paces for many laps, and his performance wasn't the same. He got close enough to Kimi, but not close enough to overtake him. There, as if in a mirror image, Leclerc closed in on his teammate, thanks to the improved performance of the hard tire, which resists wear better over many laps. Now, the driver of the number 16 Ferrari was the one asking for the pass. Once again, the decision to return to the original positions was delayed, and when the decision arrived, it was Hamilton who took more than a lap to comply. As a result, neither of them could overtake Antonelli, and Ferrari's strategy and leadership were once again called into question.

Albon had a great race with the surprising, resurgent Williams. His teammate, Sainz, was not bad, finishing behind the two Ferraris, although some damage to his car at the start prevented him from being in a better position.

Piastri won, followed by Norris, with an almost 40-second advantage over third place, Russell's Mercedes, proving that the McLarens are unstoppable in the race.

Fourth, and protesting as always when things don't go his way, champion Verstappen complained that Russell didn't respect a yellow flag, which wasn't seen at any point. The one who, in my opinion, was disadvantaged by the final yellow flag was Sainz, because the Ferraris were all over his Williams at the restart, something that in my opinion didn't match the way they were at the time it was issued, but perhaps I'm wrong since no one said anything.

Several retirements among rookies and disappointments like Alonso's and his Aston Martin, which didn't work at all, lost the little improvement they had made the previous year.

There's still a long way to go, but some contenders for the crown will also have to improve significantly if they want to compete with the papaya cars, which, for now are unattainable and are also on sale for two for one.