Miami Grand Prix Circuit lap with Franco Colapinto

      This year, Argentinean Franco Colapinto is acting as the reserve pilot of Alpine F1 and before the Miami Grand Prix, he drove a simulator around a virtual version of the track laid around the Hard Rock Stadium complex and talked about its features.

      Franco Colapinto: "We're in Miami this weekend and we're going to do a lap on this track, one of the newest on the championship calendar - it's great that we went to America at such an early stage of the season.

      We're coming out of the last corner, and now we're on the long start–finish line. Getting out of this corner well is very important, and at the same time, we must always remember that proper rubber preparation is one of the key conditions for success.

      There is a DRS zone on this straight, after which we approach the 1st turn, brake intensively and try to overcome it, keeping as close as possible to the apex, and in the second turn we are already preparing to enter the third.

      We exit turn 3 at full throttle, and a very high-speed section begins there, where left and right turns alternate, and turn 7 is protracted, and as it passes, we continue to slow down.

      This is a rather difficult section of the ring, partly because the adhesion of the tires to the asphalt surface is at a low level here. But then you need to focus as much as possible on exiting the 8th turn, because after it a very long straight begins.

      There is another DRS zone on this straight, and this system works quite effectively here, and at the end of the straight there is a good point where overtaking is possible. But for this, braking must be late and very effective.

      Braking in turn 11 is one of the toughest on the entire lap: we hit the brakes, try to attack the curb - by the way, they are quite high on this track – after which we overcome a protracted right turn, where we have to rush close to the bump.

      Here we have to prepare for the 14th turn, the track goes steeply to the left, and this is the slowest part of the lap. In this set of turns, it is necessary to attack the curbs on both sides of the track and pay special attention to the adhesion of the driving wheels to the asphalt during acceleration, since it is important not to slip here.

      Before turn 16, there is another intense braking, and when we get out of it, there is still a significant part of the lap ahead, and this is a straight line, where there is also a DRS zone. And now we are approaching the last "real" turn of the ring, before which we also brake very hard, because the speed at the end of this straight is very high.

      We attack the right curb, and at the exit we try to use the entire width of the track – so we completed a lap on the Miami highway!.."