Lapping Miami with Oliver Bearman

At last year’s United States Grand Prix this feature received an unexpected (and very welcome) twist with Ollie Bearman taking us out for a hot lap of Circuit of the Americas in a Ferrari. For another American race – this time in Florida – the Haas driver gets the opportunity to do his talking outside of the car as he guides us round a lap of the Miami International Autodrome.

"It's a very cool setting, first of all, to have the paddock within the stadium. I'm not going to lie, it's not the most rewarding and fun track to drive of the year. It doesn't have the character of the Suzukas and the Silverstones and Monacos of the world. But still, it's a nice lap.

"It's very tough because of the huge track temperatures. We see 50 degrees (celsius) plus a high amount of humidity. So in that regard, it gives the tires and the engine a very difficult time. It's a very low-speed track as well, which has consequences for how we set up the car and the way that we approach the entire weekend.

"Last year, we would obviously be able to play with different downforce levels. To be honest, at this stage, we don't have any differences in downforce level. We don't have any high or low-downforce packages. But still, it's definitely an interesting track.

"The downforce level is one less thing that you have to focus on during the weekend. It's maybe less complex on that side of things. This new regulation makes up for that lack of complexity with a huge amount more complexity in the power unit side of things.

"Overall, we still have a lot of work to do preparing for driving. Whereas before, we'd spend a lot of time deciding downforce configuration and even sometimes splitting the cars. There's not really that anymore, at least at this stage. As the regulations evolve and we naturally find downforce, we're going to be able to have different packages. But at the moment, everywhere is just pushing for more downforce.

"It's quite a low-speed track, but Sector 1 is actually the most grip sensitive and the highest speed. We have that Turn 4 until Turn 7 section, which is tough. I think that's probably the most challenging and interesting part. The rest are generally kind of compound low-speed corners, a bit more “straightforward," a bit more simple.

"It’s a Sprint weekend format as well. Last year was my first time here and being such a unique circuit, I kind of struggled to get up to speed. So, I'm glad to have done the race here last year and I feel prepared now for this weekend."