Inside a Formula 1 Paddock | Hitting the Apex

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A Formula 1 paddock is a fascinating place.

An imperfect an analogy is it closely resembles a mullet: Business in the front, party in the back.

The paddock sits behind the garage, where cars are serviced. In the front, the garage opens up the pit lane, where serious business happens.

But in the paddock area behind the garage, there is a mix of teams working and people partying like it’s 1999.

The juxtaposition of elite mechanics, engineers, and strategists plying their trade at the height of industry adjacent to the privileged few partying, needing to be “seen,” is as bizarre as it is spectacular.

As journalists, we are able to enter the Paddock prior to it opening to fans with VIP Access and Paddock Passes, and it is a shockingly serene place.

The Bizarrely Normal

Mercedes is the first paddock. This means they are also at the front of the pit lane, which can be an advantage. Mercedes earned this advantage by winning the Constructors Championship last year. And they pretty much go in team finish order from there. Haas sits at the end, almost off to the side, out of the way.

Across from garages are “hospitality” areas for each of the teams, and for Pirelli, Formula 1’s tire manufacturer (who also has a garage).

The best way to describe a hospitality area is it a combination break room for the teams and party room for the VIP members the team has invited.

And within the hospitality areas and garages, the VIPs want to be seen. The areas around Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren are teaming with people, trying to take selfies.

As you get down to Haas, it is almost deserted. This is not to say that Haas isn’t popular. Haas Team Boss Guenther Steiner remains one of the most popular people in the Paddock. They are the only American team, something they take pride in.

But people are there to be seen, and that means standing in front of the big boys.

The fan access is quite remarkable, if you’re willing to pay for it. A Paddock Club ticket (if you can find one), can be purchased for $18,900 on TicketSmarter. And what access do you get for the price of a Hyundai Venue?

Everything.

You’re free to wander around the Paddock (the garages and Pit Lanes are off limits, although you will have the ability to take a guided tour). And you know who else wanders the Paddock?

Drivers, Team Bosses, the teams themselves.

Drivers and Team Bosses trying to get from Hospitality (which, for them, is a place to unwind, grab a bite, relax) must pass through a maze of fans all wanting selfies.

What’s the point of just seeing the drivers? You have to be seen with the drivers.

And the drivers mostly oblige. The Team Bosses as well. Because again, $18,900.

For media, we have prescribed interview points where we can speak to people. So you’ll walk within feet of the famous drivers, and not really acknowledge it.

But the teams aren’t the only celebrities. Sky Sports, with coverage throughout the world, is a celebrity culture unto itself. And it is not uncommon to walk past Karun Chandhok on his way to an interview.

And then it dawns on you. Outside of the party goers, everyone else is at work. The pundits, the teams…they’re doing their jobs, as is all media.

Getting to the press conference area and interview pen, where we’re allowed to speak to drivers, involves navigating fans with drinks in hand, and TV crews doing live shots.

It’s a Small World After All

Outside of the oddity of people trying to work in a partying environment, the other thing that strikes you is how friendly the teams are with each other.

For fans of Formula 1, the attitude generally is to love your team with a passion and hate the other teams. They are the “enemy.”

The Paddock, however, paints a picture of camaraderie that you don’t really see when observing from a fan perspective.

With much of the world transitioning to remote work over the last few years, it is easy to sympathize. These are competitors, but they are also work colleagues that know each other and are friendly with each other. So when they see each other, it’s a great time to stop, have a chat, catch-up.

This extends to the Team Bosses prior to a press conference, swapping stories.

And there is a reason for that. Because for all of its glitz and glamour, Formula 1 is an expensive sport with low margins. Teams often operate at a loss, and many have failed over the years.

There are currently 10 teams on the grid. But there are a 134 teams that have failed.

F1’s recent moves with financial cost caps, and franchise/stakeholder ownership have moved everything towards stability. The last Formula 1 team to fail entirely (meaning cease to exist versus being bought out) was Manor in 2016. That level of stability is unprecedented in Formula 1.

And the reason for that stability is a shift away from an “every team for themselves” model to a “rising tide tips all boats” model. It’s something the team bosses took pride in when speaking about potentially adding an 11th team. They talked about revenue sharing, and whether the financials would justify it. This sort of collective thought would have been a foreign concept decades ago.

So while the teams compete on track, they want everyone to succeed off of it.

That friendliness is on display in the Paddock.

Formula 1 After Dark

After the days’ events are over, the Paddock returns to normal with a remarkable swiftness.

Nothing is out of place. It is immaculately clean.

The fans have long since been ushered out, surely heading to South Beach for the after party where they’ll spend the GDP of a small country. There are still some team personnel milling about. Formula 1’s imposed curfew means they are forced to relax for the evening, where in a bygone era they would pull an all-nighter working on the car.

There are some drivers still here. On Saturday night, I saw Kevin Magnussen casually chatting with a member of the Alpine team, his work done for the day.

Media are still allowed in the Paddock area at this point, and it does provide a glorious, night view.

When the weekend is over, the teams will pack up and leave, and move onto the next location, in this case, to Spain. Soon, there won’t be evidence of what took place here.

Just part of the bizarre and fascinating world behind the scenes of Formula 1.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

They Don’t Award Points on Saturday – Formula 1’s Probabilistic Approach | Hitting the Apex

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A common driver cliche is that “they don’t award points on Saturday.”

Qualifying is great, putting yourself in a position to win the the race on Sunday. But without converting that position into a strong race finish, the ultimate goal of maximizing points during the weekend is not achieved.

(As an aside, with the new sprint race format which is being utilized at 3 races this year after being piloted at 3 races last year, it turns out they do award points on Saturday).

Formula 1 is about Math, Science, and Guts

Despite the high financial barrier to entry making it largely inaccessible to the masses, one of the allures of Formula 1 to a wide swath of fans is that there is something for everyone.

Formula 1 sits at the nexus of Math, Science, and the ever-fallible human existence. When we talk about analytics in other sports, what we’re talking about is basic, childhood arithmetic, compared to the effort put in by Formula 1.

Every eventuality has been played out and gamed out, the results simulated. The simulations (and car simulators) are so complicated that veteran driver Valtteri Bottas noted that because Alfa Romeo only relatively recently built a simulator, they are several stages behind Mercedes, Bottas’ former team, in simulator development.

But Formula 1 remains an inexact science.

An exercise in probability. Each micro-decision a team and driver makes throughout the course of a race alters that probability ever so slightly, and cumulatively alters it greatly as each of the 10 teams and 20 drivers are constantly making those decisions.

After all that data, all that information, all those simulations, you end up with a probability that eventually translates into the expected finish in the race.

This is meant to mitigate the chance of risk, given that is all accounted for in the probabilistic determinations.

So after the engineers have designed the car to within a millimeter of specifications to elicit the maximum lap time, and the mathematicians have figured out the optimal strategy built around race pace simulations, tire degradation simulations, and the expected behavior of opponents (among many other factors), an interesting thing happens.

Humans get involved. The drivers are human, the people on the pit wall making the decisions are human, the numbers inputted into the simulations required some human thought, and some assumptions.

Humans are fascinating because we are imperfect. And that imperfection is what lays to waste the best laid plans.

One second, you’re cruising your way to an 8th World Drivers Championship, the next second someone has crashed, the Race Director panics, and the title slips away. That’s racing, it’s what makes it simultaneously maddening and fascinating.

You’d Rather Start on Pole

With so much chance involved, how important is qualifying?

Formula 1, as we’ve discussed, is a sport of probability. Each place you finish further up the grid increases your probability of winning. The pole sitter wins roughly 40% of the races.

While that number is low all things being equal (my logical brain keeps telling me that starting in front would give you a greater than 50% chance of winning, but it turns out that this isn’t true), it dwarfs any other position’s probability. Again, it’s all about increasing the expected position of finish, and pole gives you the highest possible.

As you go further back down the grid, the probability of winning drops rapidly. An (admittedly dated) 2000 analysis from Autosport analyzing start position conversions to wins in the mid-90s found that over 95% of winners start in the Top 6.

Probability.

Starting at the front also brings with it mental stress relief. A driver can focus on his race, and is not worried about being held up by an opponent and having that disrupt his strategy. This is provided he maintains the lead at the start, of course. Pole position is only as good as your acceleration off the line. That mental stress relief is increased if two teammates lock out the front row, which is what happened in the Miami Grand Prix’s Saturday Qualifying.

Now you can really strategize, and give some deference to each other, so you don’t crash. This is a huge advantage over having a non-teammate on the front row next to you.

Pole at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, however, might be a little less important. With the expectation of an incident-laden race throwing off all the calculations. If there is going to be a red flag at some point, if there are going to be multiple safety cars, how and when do you account for that? You can’t really, it’s just hope for the best.

So what do the driver’s think? The top 3 finishers in Saturday’s qualifying were Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), and Max Verstappen (Red Bull).

They all commented on the track issues that should lead to an unpredictable race. Leclerc and Sainz lamented the lack of grip off the racing line, with Sainz calling it “slippery.” Sainz and Verstappen both commented on the lack of time spent doing long runs, with Verstappen in particular saying it’s difficult to drive “not really knowing the limits” after having only done “four or five laps” in Friday’s practice.

But to a man, when discussing the importance of starting position, they universally reinforced that importance. Leclerc said it was “better” to start ahead and in particular with both Ferraris on the front row. Verstappen said he would also “prefer to start ahead.”

Veterans of the probabilistic battles of the past. They know that in racing, in general, and on a new track, specifically, anything can happen. But they also know that in a sport where you’re choosing between low probability scenarios, any advantage gained is worth having. In a sport where millions of dollars are spent trying to find hundredths of a second, the opportunity to increase the probability of your expected finishing position is worth its weight in gold.

Ferrari has the advantage, the odds in their favor.

But they don’t award points on Saturday.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

A Delicate Balance Awaits Teams Heading into Qualifying | Hitting the Apex

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There is a cliche in all motorsports, that in particular applies to Formula 1.

To finish first, you first must finish.

The new track at the Miami Grand Prix was described as “challenging” by several drivers.

Through 3 practice sessions, that has proven to be the case with each session disrupted by red flags, crashes, and spins.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown called it a “proper” track and it surely is that.

And it is that properness coupled with the strange asphalt and new layout that is testing these drivers to the limits, and in several cases, over the limits.

Track Evolution

As a Grand Prix weekend goes on, especially on a new track, lap times drop.

This is because the track goes through a process called “rubbering in” where the tires, as part of the process of wearing out, leave rubber on the track. That rubber then allows the track to have more grip. By the time you get to qualifying and certainly the race, the rubber laid down on the racing line over the weekend is actually more important to grip than the actual surface itself.

And therein lies the conundrum.

As the track evolves, and the lap times drop, the best time quickly becomes the worst time.

Ideally, you will put in your competitive qualifying laps just as the checkered flag is being waved, maximizing the grip.

The problem with that?

Rules state that you must start a “flying” (aka qualifying) lap before the checkered flag waves. And in order to do that, you must do an “out lap,” which is the lap from the pit box around the track to the start-finish line.

But an out lap is not just simply about driving around to the start-finish line. It is a tedious process of slowly warming up the cars tires, and creating the optimal gap between your car and the car in front of you so you are not impacted by disturbed air. And it can take several minutes, when done properly, to get the car is in the “zone” at the start-finish line, with optimal tire temperature and clear air in front.

Delicate Dance

The problem at a new track, especially a challenging one, is the complexity around the question of when to send the cars out for hot laps is increased exponentially.

The track evolution on a new track is much higher than on an old, rubbered in track, so there is not really an option to “bank” an early fast lap and think it will hold up.

But with repeated offs and red flags over the 3 practice sessions, a team cannot be comfortable leaving the lap until the end. While a red flag would stop the qualifying clock (unlike in practice, where it keeps running), if there is not enough time to drive a proper out lap and get to the start-finish line prior to the checkered flag after the session resumes, the clock stoppage won’t matter.

And even something as simple as a slight off from a competitor causing a yellow flag will force a driver to have to abandon his lap.

The start-stop nature of all 3 practices would lend itself to a continuation of that in qualifying. And those practice disruptions impacted the team’s setup programs already, with 3 drivers having lead the 3 practice sessions.

Whoever sends their cars out at the right time, whether via skill or luck, may end up leading the cars away in the race tomorrow.

A fascinating qualifying awaits in Miami, and anything can happen.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

McLaren: British Roots, American Resurrection | Hitting the Apex

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McLaren was founded in the 1960s and eponymously named for founder Bruce McLaren, a New Zealander.

But it is an unmistakably a British racing team, with its home in Woking in England.

While Bruce McLaren is the foundational figure in McLaren’s early development (he passed away in an accident at the age of 32), the man who is central to McLaren’s rise as the 2nd most successful team in Formula 1 history (only behind Ferrari) is the Woking-born Ron Dennis.

Dennis took over a struggling McLaren team in September of 1980, and in a year had full control of the team.

Businessman, Engineer, Entrepreneur

Ron Dennis will forever remain the seminal figure in McLaren’s history. Through a series of shrewd business moves, leveraging his hybrid business-engineering background, Dennis built McLaren into a modern, efficient organization.

Everything we associate today with Mercedes applies to McLaren in the 1980s. In a span of 8 years from 1984-1991, McLaren won 7 World Drivers Championships and 6 Constructors Championships. The envy of Formula 1, McLaren boasted the best engines, the best designs, and the best overall car.

And that doesn’t mention the drivers.

Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna all won championships for Dennis’ McLaren.

But, as Christian Horner said today when discussing the Monaco Grand Prix, if you’re not moving forward, you’re being left behind.

And as the 80s ran into the 90s, McLaren struggled to keep pace. Williams and Benetton became the predominant force in Formula 1, powered by Renault, and McLaren’s partnership with Mercedes was off to a slow start.

But by the late 90s, McLaren was back on top. Mika Hakkinen won consecutive WDCs and in 1998, McLaren won the double, also capturing the Constructors championship, which is still their last.

The turn of the century saw the beginning of the end for McLaren, as Ferrari and Michael Schumacher took over the sport.

Desperate, Dennis begin sowing the seeds of his own demise. In the scandal that came to be known as “Spygate” McLaren used illicitly acquired intellectual property from Ferrari to help develop their car and close the gap to the front-runners. In that 2007 season, McLaren was the fastest car, with drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton feuding with each other. The pair also turned state’s evidence against McLaren in exchange for providing evidence that McLaren had cheated to the extent that it provided them a sporting advantage.

McLaren was kicked out of the Formula 1 Constructors Championship (one they were sure to win) and fined a still record for any sport $100 million. Alonso and Hamilton were still able to compete, but feuded on track, cannibalizing each other’s points and handing the title to Kimi Raikonnen.

Worse yet, Mercedes, rather than buy out the remaining shares of McLaren, decided to go it alone. McLaren was now going to compete with the partner that had powered their cars for the past 15 years. Lewis Hamilton won the first of his WDCs with McLaren in 2008, and it was the last time McLaren achieved that level of success.

As Mercedes became the dominant force in Formula 1, McLaren slowly faded into obscurity. Dennis left as CEO in 2009, and save a brief attempt at a comeback in 2014, left the McLaren ecosystem, with all ties formally dissolved in 2017.

Enter the American

For 3 decades, Ron Dennis was the person responsible for McLaren, and his absence left a vacuum,  amidst an outfit struggling with a Honda engine that did not work with the car, and did not work at all.

Before Netflix’s Drive to Survive took the world by storm, Amazon had a series focused just on McLaren, called Grand Prix Driver which looked at drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso, and the new executive director. That executive director was named Zak Brown.

One of the shocking things about Brown is how unapologetically American he is. The series captures a fascinating point in McLaren’s history where you could see the partnership with Honda coming off the rails (the series ends with McLaren announcing they would switch to Renault engines). But you also notice Brown’s trademark, American style.

He glad hands, works the room, is effusive, is gregarious, all the things you associate with someone that is an American marketer.

But Brown is a racer at heart. And that comfort that he not only knows this Formula 1 world, but belongs in it, is what gives him the confidence to be himself, assuaging the natural tendency of American’s when confronted with a prim, European environment, to attempt to adopt their mannerisms, to blend in.

In 2018, Brown formally took over as CEO of McLaren.

The British company, run by an American.

In 2021, a McLaren driver (Daniel Ricciardo), powered by a Mercedes engine (McLaren used a combination of Honda and Renault engines from 2015-2020), won a race for the first time since a Mercedes-powered McLaren driven by Jenson Button won the last race of the 2012 season. 9 years in the abyss.

With the sport continuing to expand in the United States, McLaren finds itself uniquely positioned to capitalize on this growth (which Brown credits unreservedly to Netflix) and position itself as an American alternative (with Gene Haas’ eponymously named team being the only American-owned team).

When Toto Wolff described the Miami Grand Prix as “Mega,” Brown responded that it was “Mega Mega.”

Why?

Because “I’m American, we’ve gotta go bigger.”

With the swash-buckling American at the helm, it’s only a matter of time before McLaren goes bigger.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

With Practice Over, The Stage is Set | Hitting the Apex

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A Formula 1 race week has a rhythm to it

The week starts off light-hearted. Drivers do publicity.

Behind the scenes, the support team is doing the work, building the garages out, setting everything up for the race.

Thursday is the last day before drivers take the track for the first 2 of 3 practice sessions.

On Friday, those sessions happen.

On Saturday, there is one final practice session before the pace of the cars are confirmed in qualifying.

And on Sunday, the race itself happens.

Generally, the importance of the Friday practice sessions oscillate between extremely important and not really important. Sometimes changeable conditions render the data almost worthless.

And then there is this weekend in Miami. A new track, a new asphalt type. Any second spent on track is crucial.

Slip-sliding Away

In the Drivers’ Press Conference this morning, there was a lot of discussion about how the asphalt feels different than what they normally drive on, and that the track was very intricate.

That turned out to be prescient, as the cars slid all over the track, sometimes resulting in close calls, other times resulting in crashes. All the cars bounced along the track, struggling for grip.

But eventually, the process known as track evolution took hold, and the times started dropping, the drivers got more comfortable.

That is what actually lead to the chaotic end to Free Practice 2.

The only way to find the limit of the car is to exceed the limit, then back off from there.

On a new track, this process is particularly important, because no one quite knows where the edge and limit is. There is not yet a “correct” way to take the corners, a tried and trued racing line honed over decades. So you end up with a chaotic process by which the most skilled drivers in the world are reduced to “maybe this will work” guessing.

It’s fascinating to watch it unfold and one of the allures of a new track is watching drivers slowly get in a rhythm and start dropping their lap times, getting used to how the tires interact with the asphalt, and constantly adjusting to the changing grip levels on the track.

It also means we don’t know anything yet.

Looking Ahead

If there is pace in the car, it will need to be manifested by Qualifying. The surprise of Friday was Mercedes, who showed good pace in both practice sessions, with George Russell topping the time sheets in the Free Practice 2.

Does it mean they’ll be fastest tomorrow? And that is the beauty of the sport. No one actually knows.

It could be that the new rear wing they brought is allowing them to find significantly more pace and they’ve closed the gap.

It could mean that they are simply further along in their weekend program and that other teams will find the pace tomorrow.

It could mean that they were running lower fuel loads.

It could mean nothing, it could mean everything.

And that is part of the majesty of Formula 1. No one ever really knows anything, and yet everyone is comfortable speculating.

Qualifying generally cements the pecking order for the weekend, and we are so new in this generation of cars and so new on this track, reading too much into any result is dangerous.

But for a Mercedes team that is used to dominating Formula 1 but stumbled out of the gates this year, at least for one day, they can sit atop the tables.

Tomorrow, everything changes. The one constant in Formula 1 is that once you think you have it figured out, something else comes along and humbles you.

Friday was a humbling day for many of the drivers, and Saturday portends to bring more humility interspersed with excellence to the Miami GP.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

Champions on the Track, Heroes off the Track | Hitting the Apex

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Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are generational rivals. Long before this latest generation of Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, and George Russell became the “unstoppable” young drivers, there was Lewis and Seb. Hamilton, having nearly won the World Drivers Championship as a rookie and completing the job in his second year being eclipsed a few years later as youngest champion by Vettel, as Red Bull entered an era of dominance.

When the upper hand went back to Mercedes, now being lead by Hamilton, it was Ferrari, Vettel’s team, that rose to meet them. The two clashed on track, once literally under Safety Car, but when Vettel finally left Ferrari for the less competitive Aston Martin, the on track tussles between the pair all but ceased.

Left in the wake of those battles is shocking dominance as these 2 combined to capture 11 championships in 13 years.

That sort of competitiveness and rivalry will naturally lend itself to some animosity, and as two of the great drivers in Formula 1 history, the rivalry sustained much of the 2010s.

The Moment That Changed Everything

And then 2020 happened, not just the pandemic, but the international unrest around primarily the murder of George Floyd, but on a more macro-level the unwillingness of people to accept institutional racism and injustice. That overarching battle is very much still a work in progress, but in the moment, the two champions stepped to the forefront.

In 2 years, these rivals have transformed into the soul of Formula 1. A sport often accused of obtuseness with regards to human and civil rights had two of its brightest stars unwilling to turn the other cheek.

And the pair carries that burden with them, wearing it well. They now serve a higher purpose.

In order to get athletes to open up about “controversial” issues, it often takes prodding, and usually results in a press officer writing something that the athlete subsequently reads to walk back whatever he or she just said.

That is not the case with Lewis and Seb.

While other drivers talked of how they had fun in Miami, enjoyed the beach, and ate great food, Hamilton discussed meeting with local kids of diverse backgrounds that had no exposure to Formula 1 and how he stressed the importance of a STEM education, because the backbone of Formula 1 is engineering.

For his part, Vettel met with climate scientists, trying to bring renewed attention to a subject that is an ever present threat to South Florida. And he went to an inner city school, describing how it is the type of place that Formula 1 drivers are generally not exposed to. That school was Miami Carol City Middle School.

They don’t have to do this. There are a million things to do in Miami, and most drivers avail themselves of the downtime afforded them to party, relax, play golf (Hamilton did play golf with Tom Brady, for charity), do whatever they can to unwind.

And as well they should.

Being an F1 driver is extremely strenuous. You have to keep yourself in pristine shape, subject your body to unnatural neck strain (the press officer advised us to observe the size of the driver’s necks, and goodness, some of them appear wider than their heads), and spend significant time in simulators even when you’re not on track. It’s only natural that a driver would take any downtime they have to unwind.

The comment on how Lewis and Seb spent their free time is not to denigrate the other drivers. But it does highlight the nobility of their pursuit. Judge man not by what he does when forced, but by what he does when left to his own whims.

Legacy Far Greater Than Driving

An F1 press conference is generally a jovial affair. The drivers joke around, some of the questions are intended to elicit comedic responses (in particular, those directed at Daniel Ricciardo). The drivers make fun of each other.

Then there is Lewis and Seb.

They carry themselves a bit differently. There is a seriousness about them. They are not absent humor, but they seemed burdened by over a decade in the sport, understanding the importance of the platform, and wearing that responsibility in their actions.

They chose this battle when they didn’t have to, and it is one that they continue to fight long after the trends have moved on. It’s a subject they voluntarily bring to the fore any time someone puts a microphone in front of them, knowing that there is always another pair of ears that they might reach, another life they might change, another lost child who might be impacted.

There will be a day when these two champions are no longer around. Even the greatest eventually retire.

But long after they’ve turned their last wheel, and pushed their last accelerator in anger, Lewis and Seb’s legacy will be felt for generations to come. Their voices will reverberate through history. Countless lives have been impacted for the better, simply because they chose to care when they didn’t have to.

And they’ve laid a blueprint for future generations to follow, having normalized having a social conscience and not worrying who they might offend.

They are champions on the track, but heroes off of it. The best Formula 1 has to offer.

Kings among men.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

Meet the Protagonists: Inside an F1 Press Conference | Hitting the Apex

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Much like everything else in Formula 1, the press conference is a technical, highly organized affair taking place over 2 hours.

First, as always, it is useful to provide context. In American sports, we’re used to having more access to athletes and doing things like going into locker rooms after games to conduct interviews.

That is not the case with Formula 1.

So this press conference is really the time to talk to the drivers before they head out on track. The schedule is pre-arranged into 4 groups of 5 drivers, with roughly 30 minutes for each group. Our pairings on this Friday were the following:

Group 1: Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll

Group 2: Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Max Verstappen

Group 3: Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo, Mick Schumacher, Nicholas Latifi, Fernando Alonso

Group 4: George Russell, Zhou Guanyu, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Sebastian Vettel

The format for the interview followed the same path. Each driver would be asked 2 questions by the moderator:

  1. Something about Miami specifically, or their experience in America in general.
  2. Something about how the season is going.

And then they open it up for questions.

F1 Aristocracy

One of the interesting things you notice walking through the F1 paddock is how much of a hierarchy there is for everything. Mercedes gets the best spot for their garage, based on being the top team in the Constructors championship last year. And Haas is at the other end of the spectrum. That’s just the way it is.

But that also extends to the open period of questions at the press conference. In particular the first group, which quickly devolved into a Lewis Hamilton Ask Me Anything.

I should probably amend that a bit.

It devolved into a Lewis Hamilton Ask Me Anything….about piercings.

For those that have not been following this “controversy,” technically Formula 1 bans piercings. Technically, they have been banned for over a decade. Lewis Hamilton has piercings. The FIA decided to enforce the piercing ban. Lewis Hamilton is refusing to take off his piercings. This week, he wore every piece of jewelry he could find to the press conference.

Yes, riveting stuff. Hamilton himself called the whole thing “silly” and said they had “bigger fish to fry,” which I agree with.

In the grand scheme of unforced errors, this is is certainly one of them. The amount of time spent on this at an official F1 press briefings would have you believe they were trying to broker a deal for world peace.

There were other topics covered, of course, but almost all the questions went to Hamilton, and before you knew it was time for the next group of drivers. The rest of the press conference proceeded in similar fashion, 5 drivers, answering questions.

The Skills

Outside of piercings, our fair city was the subject of intense praise. The drivers love being in Miami, and commented on the culture of the city, something us Miamians are proud of. Some of it was surely playing to the audience, but the diversity of Miami being its strength, and the drivers consistently hitting on that theme surely hit home.

The other talk was about the track itself, and the adjustment to new a track with unfamiliar asphalt. This was manifested in Free Practice 1 when several cars ran wide and Bottas eventually brought out the red flag with a crash. They talked of simulator work to prepare, visualizing corners, a ramp up and adjustment period. Things that would take a normal human years and that they were planning on accomplishing in a few practice sessions.

But what really came across was the insane amount of skill and sacrifice it took to get to the pinnacle of motorsport, and how quickly the drivers are able to adapt. It was the quiet confidence they all exuded, knowing that regardless of how the track responded, they’d figure it out.

The analogy I’d use here as a technologist is imagine you’re an expert on using a PC and then someone hands you a Mac. You know how to use a computer, it has all the familiar buttons (well, most of them at least), and it is generally familiar. But yet really different.

These drivers are adjusting to a strange asphalt, going around turns they’ve never seen before, adjusting to the track camber, trying to not just go around the corners, but go around them fast enough to extract 100s of a second. It’s a miracle they don’t crash on every lap.

And it is the nonchalant nature with which they approach this seemingly impossible task that crystalizes just how brilliant they are. There is something reinforcing, life affirming, and noble at seeing people excel at something the way these drivers universally have excelled to reach this point, driving in Formula 1.

That was what I left this, my first Formula 1 press conference, with. That is what I’ll remember years from now. That the routinization of greatness often makes it seem normal, but actually is what makes it great. It is a message that should inspire. And if Formula 1 is about anything, it’s about reaching the peak of man intersecting with machine.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

Mateo’s Hoops Diary: The 76ers’ Shameful Handling of Embiid Situation

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Word on the street is Joel Embiid has cleared concussion protocols and is doing everything he can to suit up for Game 3 against the Heat.  It comes across as poor taste that the 76ers can’t protect their star big man from himself. 

 

I don’t pretend to be a physician, but I don’t remember ever hearing or reading of a broken face healing in a week.  By not shutting Embiid down, the team is keeping the story alive that there is a possibility he could come back when suiting him up puts his career at risk.  #21, reportedly was finally able to lift his phone to his head without the light from the screen bothering his injury, and somehow the 76ers are squeezing a lucky rabbit’s foot hoping Joel makes a supernatural recovery. 

 

Perhaps the team is basing hope on their center coming back from an orbital fracture because he did it four years ago, but only after a three-week hiatus.  It was dangerous then, but the idea now should be so far removed from the realm of possibility and anyone suggesting it doesn’t care for Embiid’s health.  Injuries are a lamentable reality of the sport.  Suck it up and come back next year.

 

It’s an unnecessary risk for Embiid to waste his time in this series, especially when factoring the danger of playing and how poorly his team is performing. Basketball is a contact sport.  Suck it up and come back next year.

 

This team should have enough to cop a game, meanwhile, without Philly’s MVP candidate, the outfit has fallen into a 2-0 hole, with the spotlight of criticisms shining on Doc Rivers and James Harden.   Rivers gave the start to Deandre Jordan, a veteran big-man waived by the Lakers in late February, for Games 1 & 2 and his club immediately suffered for it.  Miami was quick to attack DJ through pick ‘n’ roll,  pulling up from midrange when he dropped back to protect the rim.  Considering the Heat’s versatility offensively, perhaps the operative move would have been starting Paul Reed and going smaller so Philly could Ice on Miami’s rim rolls.

 

As I sat through Philly’s post Game 1 presser, I thought I was hallucinating when I heard Rivers say he’d keep playing Jordan whether we liked it or not. The old adage, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” is often misattributed to Albert Einstein but the point still stands.  

 

Then there’s the Beard.  His decline is Shaekesperean because he had a part in doing it to himself.  He has not taken care of his body, and it’s likely a reason aside from age that he’s got no burst left.  On a Game 2 possession where he forced a switch to get Max Strus on him at the top of the key, Harden opted to take a dribble pull-up triple instead of cutting left for a layup or possible trip to the line.

 

In the first game, the Bearded One was a non factor from the field in the second half, missing ¾ attempts. His only made a bucket was in the low post and his three misses came from the perimeter.

 

When I asked Harden what the Heat did schematically to prevent him from getting to the line at his normal clip, after Game 1, he said “Next question.”  

 

I remember a version of the Beard who was must-see TV for three years.  He had a linebacker’s body with deep range, a tight handle and an explosive first step.  The man casually averaged 35 points a night between 2018-2020 while playing mainly in isolation, the toughest way there is to score because of the lack of ball movement.   It’s difficult to accept that person is never coming back.

 

I originally called this series in five games favoring Miami but it’s possible it won’t stretch that long because the Heat have a counter for every scheme the 76ers deploy. 

 

*****

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Miami’s Mecca of Sport | Hitting the Apex

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Upon hearing that Formula 1 planned to build a race track at Hard Rock Stadium, my reaction was to laugh at both the audacity and impossibility of it.

The simultaneous juxtaposition of skepticism and awe.

Hard Rock Stadium’s transformation from modern multi-purpose stadium at its inception, to soulless venue not fit for any purpose, to world class stadium rivaling the best on the planet is a story of Miami’s uncomfortable love affair with its sports stadiums.

Perhaps the meandering names of the stadium help best to signify just how unsettled the stadium has been for much of its existence. Over time, the stadiums name changed from venerating former Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie, to Pro Player Park, to Pro Player Stadium, to Dolphins Stadium, to Dolphin Stadium, to Land Shark Stadium, to Sun Life Stadium, and finally, to Hard Rock Stadium. As frequent and often worthless as some of those name changers were (they really needed to change Dolphins to Dolphin?), those changes are consistent with the stadium itself.

And yet as much attention is paid to the Dolphins’ on field futility, especially in light of the success of the Heat and Panthers, and the ascendency of Hurricanes’ Baseball, Basketball, and Football, not enough attention has been made to the transformation from an aimless stadium that didn’t seem suited for any purpose to the premier sports complex in the United States, if not the world.

A Boondoggle for Miami, A Boon for the Dolphins

The Marlins move out of what is currently known as Hard Rock Stadium and into the former site of the Orange Bowl is widely considered to be one of the most unpopular public policy decisions in Miami history. Politicians were recalled, but the damage was done. The historic Orange Bowl was laid to waste, the Hurricanes jettisoned to the county line, and Miami’s taxpayers were on the hook for a subsidies.

The entire city had soured on the concept of stadiums, and what was left was an aging stadium in Miami Gardens.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Hard Rock Stadium’s funeral.

The Dolphins resurrected it. For as much flak as they get for team’s lack of playoff success, it’s hard to imagine a more successful construction transformation than what has occurred here.

As the Marlins exited to Little Havana, the Dolphins were faced with a stadium that:

  • Had a poor fan experience with the seats too far from the field
  • Old video boards at either end of the stadium
  • Infamous orange seats that were weather worn
  • Oppressive heat that made fans not want to even go into the stadium

But what were they going to do? Move the actual foundational structure?

OH MY GOD THEY MOVED THE FOUNDATIONAL STRUCTURE

It was so audacious that when presented with this issue of the seats being too far from the field, the idea of actually moving the structure was not even something I thought possible. But lo and behold, they did it.

The video boards were replaced with modern ones at each of the stadium’s corners. The orange seats were replaced with a calming shade of aqua.

But surely those would fade in the oppressive heat. And the only thing more sacrilegious in Miami than getting “una colada sin azucar” is suggesting that football should be played indoors.

Ah, why not…we’ll cover just the seating areas and leave the field exposed, so the game is played outdoors, but the fans get the benefits of being covered.  What was once a dilapidated, aging stadium that no one wants to play in, is now this:

This venue now comfortably hosts Super Bowls and College National Championship games.

First Football, Now the World

Miami has always been the home of the “5th Grand Slam” tennis tournament, what is currently called the Miami Open. And that tournament belonged to Key Biscayne.

But when lawsuits prevented the old Crandon Park complex from being upgraded, the tournament needed a new home. Ideally, they’d be somewhere on the water, much like Key Biscayne. If not, perhaps Brickell?

Surely not Miami Gardens? The literati of tennis wouldn’t want to make the trek out to the intersection of all highways repeatedly over a 2 week period. This was a non-starter from a location standpoint. It’s one thing to go out there 7 Saturdays and 8 Sundays a year, it’s very different to commute there on the regular.

At this point, we should know that “can’t” is not in the Dolphins’ vocabulary. And sure enough, the tournament was moved to Miami Gardens.

The stadium became an ideal center court, allowing patrons to use the luxury boxes. The parking lots were transformed into the “outer courts” and the tournament kept on chugging.

If you’ve read this far, you know what happened when the original plans to host the Miami Grand Prix at the Port of Miami fell through.

One of the interesting things I discovered about the track upon my arrival is that having the stadium here is actually a hindrance. I had assumed that the having a full stadium facility at a track would be advantageous. But Formula 1 is all about logistics, for transporting equipment to the track and for transporting equipment between different points of the track.

And the stadium gets in the way of the latter endeavor. This facility is “tight” with the need to wind the circuit around the structure. Some of the stadium is used, including for the Media Center where I’m currently sitting. But a lot of is not really usable space.

But what has been constructed here is truly a marvel. You cannot tell it was purpose-built in a parking lot. It feels like a permanent track, so much so that some Formula 1 veteran journalists I spoke to questioned whether this was actually a parking lot.

Hard Rock Stadium to the right, Formula 1 circuit to the left. Truly a model of engineering, and of dreams.

The Dolphins spoke this week of potentially hosting World Cup matches here in 2026, including the World Cup Final. At this point, we’d be foolish to doubt their ambition and ability.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes  for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

The Myth of the Second Round Quarterback

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There has become a myth of the second round quarterback in the scouting community.
The NFL draft has come and gone, and there were plenty of surprises, notably at the quarterback position. Among them, not a single quarterback was picked in the second round.

After Kenny Pickett was drafted by the Steelers at 20, the next QB didn’t go until 54 picks later, even though there were several who analysts believed were capable of going in round two.

There’s just one small problem: second round quarterbacks don’t exist.

I know it sounds like an odd — or maybe blatantly false — statement, but there is a case to be made. The success rate on round two signal-callers is pretty horrendous, and it all seems to lead to this one conclusion.

In order to come to that conclusion, however, there are a variety of different criteria. First, the types of quarterbacks and draftable skills. Second, the structure, and third, the history of these picks. Those three, when looked at together, bring a pretty shocking revelation that made me conjure up that statement above.

Drafting a Quarterback

Teams who find themselves drafting quarterbacks highly may be in a variety of spots, but there are three that are the most typical:

  1. One of the league’s worst teams, holding a high draft pick.
  2. Middling franchise, looking to make a change.
  3. Top of the league, finding the protégé for an older (on the verge of retirement) leader.

When teams find themselves in any of these positions, they must find the traits they value in a quarterback. Among those are arm talent, rushing ability, composure, ability to read the field, and more. However, there are two categories that those fall into, which, for the sake of the argument are production and potential.

To put it simply, teams judge what a quarterback is right now versus what he could be in a few years.

Scenario One

The top guys usually have a combination of both. Trevor Lawrence, who went number one to the Jaguars last year, combined national championships and Heisman ballot appearances with a 6’6″ frame and a cannon of an arm. Thus, he went to a team that I would place in the first set of criteria. The Jaguars were easily one of the worst teams in the NFL, and thus received a generational talent.

Scenario Two

Those with one of the two traits, however, have a wide range of options. For a team that’s just good enough to be picking outside of the quarterback window, they might be willing to take a chance on a potentially huge swing in their franchises history. Kenny Pickett is a prime example of this. While he doesn’t have the strongest arm or the highest ceiling, his production last season was hard to ignore. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who were 9-7-1 last year, decided that he was worth it at 20.

Following that pick, there were other quarterbacks on the board, who, like Pickett, possessed one of the two main traits. Malik Willis, who some suspected may go as high as number two overall, had one of the highest ceilings in the draft, however, if he wasn’t going to go in the first, it seemed he wasn’t getting drafted until later on day 2.

Scenario Three

Teams that fall in the third category (such as the Packers in 2020) have a tough decision. While they could take their chances on a high-potential pick like Jordan Love, it makes the most sense to maximize their championship window. Green Bay took that chance in 2020, and passed up elite talent because of it. Now, teams have learned from that mistake, while quarterbacks brunt the blow to their draft position.

Thus, Malik Willis, Matt Corral, Desmond Ridder, and all of the quarterbacks who many expected to go in round one, are now available in the dreaded first half of day two.

The Structure of the Second Round

On the typical draft boards, teams have a wide range of grades on prospects. It’s common to see someone who’s viewed as a top prospect by one team be a day two pick for someone else. Due to this disparity, many “first round talents” fall into the beginning of day two.

These players are quickly scooped up in what makes up roughly 25 percent of the round. This leaves the last 24 picks for guys truly viewed as round two prospects, which doesn’t leave much room for quarterbacks.

If a team would have believed in someone enough to draft them with those first eight picks, it’s unlikely he would have slipped to begin with. Teams rarely risk the opportunity of missing out their guy. This is why it’s common to see teams move up to 32. They guarantee themselves the player they want with an extra year of team control.

If a team wasn’t willing to take that chance, it’s unlikely they viewed them very highly. That idea is exactly what makes the second round the worst for the quarterback. Would a team take a player who, at the most important position in the sport, they aren’t fully invested in or comfortable with — especially when there is still high-end talent on the board?

The Last 24

Once you find your way out of those first eight picks, it becomes time for teams to ask themselves that question. As this draft has shown, the answer has been a resounding “no.” The later picks, which are usually the teams competing for playoff spots, would rather choose someone who can contribute right away. Bubble teams are always looking for their next big acquisition, and their philosophy is that is can come then.

Quarterbacks, as a result, usually fall by the wayside. However, there are some instances where they are picked. The results of which are rather interesting.

Modern History of the Second Round Quarterback

Over the last 20 years, there have been 20 quarterbacks selected in the second round. 20 different times, teams have weighed the ideas of production and potential, and in the last two decades, have determined it’s time to take a quarterback who likely only had one of those traits.

Of those, the results are typically a failure of epic proportions. Kellen Clemens, Deshone Kizer, Drew Stanton, Chad Henne, Brian Brohm, John Beck, Jimmy Clausen, and Geno Smith all have more career interceptions than touchdowns, while Christian Hackenberg and Kyle Trask (who’s only in his second season) never played a recorded snap.

The other options aren’t great either. Tavaris Jackson, Brock Osweiler, and Kevin Kolb all showed some flashes, but never lived up to their selection.

Five of the remaining six are polarizing. Jalen Hurts has shown flashes, but fell apart in the playoffs. Drew Lock is still young, but was just traded by the Broncos and has been shaky. Jimmy Garoppolo was able to succeed in the Kyle Shanahan offense, but was just replaced and hasn’t shown an ability to transcend the system. Andy Dalton is a similar story, having rough stints in limited playoff appearances. Lastly, Colin Kaepernick led the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance, but has been out of the league for the better half of the last decade.

This leaves Derek Carr, who, while having only one playoff appearance and zero playoff wins, has safely cemented a spot as the Raiders quarterback for eight years. He has made three Pro Bowls, and has continued to improve. Thus making him the only second round quarterback selected in the last 20 years who can safely be called a hit.

The Bottom Line on the Second Round Quarterback

The 2022 NFL Draft was a prime example of a philosophy at work. After a quarterback goes in the first round, teams have learned from mistakes of the past. Rather than picking signal callers with clear holes in their game in the following round, they’ve gone for contributors at other positions.

Several teams would love to have the next Derek Carr, but with that comes the chance of Brian Brohm or Deshone Kizer. Just like every other selection, the second round has it’s fair share of bust potential. However, it seems that the combination of quarterback traits, draft tendencies, and a simple history lesson will tell you that it simply isn’t the same.

General managers across the league will continue to take swings on quarterbacks, but when doing so, it’s important to look at the most glaring fact:

Second round quarterbacks don’t exist.

 

***This article was originally published on the ATB Network by Tyler DeSena***

 

Hussam Patel is a Miami Dolphins contributor and Lead NFL Draft analyst at Five Reasons Sports Network, Director of Scouting at PhinManiacs and Editor at Dolphins ATB. Follow him on Twitter at @HussamPatel

 

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