At Miami for the first of the three US races
Maranello 03 maggio 2023
Frédéric Vasseur
Team Principal
We are in the middle of a particularly busy part of the season with five races in six weeks from Baku to Barcelona and our work continues on track and in Maranello to develop our car package. Miami is yet another unusual track with all the idiosyncrasies of a street circuit, which both our drivers enjoy, so I’m confident we can make another step forward with the SF-23.
The United States has historically been a very important market for Ferrari and the Scuderia has a strong fanbase here, which is a further incentive to keep pushing to close the performance gap to the championship leaders.
Ferrari Stats
GP contested 1056
Seasons in F1 74
Debut Monaco 1950 (A. Ascari 2nd; R. Sommer 4th; L. Villoresi ret.)
Wins 242 (22,92%)
Pole positions 243 (23,01%)
Fastest laps 259 (24.53%)
Total podiums 799 (25.22%)
Ferrari Stats Miami GP
GP contested 1
Debut 2022 (C. Leclerc 2nd; C. Sainz 3rd)
Wins 0
Pole positions 1 (100%)
Fastest laps 0
Total podiums 2 (66,66%)
Three questions to...
SERGIO BONDI, HEAD OF LOGISTICS
1. How many kilometres do the team personnel travel during the season? And what kind of challenges does the Logistics department face while ensuring everything goes smoothly?
Approximately 230,000 kilometres over the year. The biggest challenge is to find the best possible travel routes and carriers which allow us to reduce the personnel’s exposure to the negative effects of travel, such as jet lag and stress. That means looking at a wide range of options such as charter flights or scheduled flights that best fit with the need for rest and the timetable at the track. In terms of hotels, the first priority is to be as close as possible to the track to limit travel time on the ground.
2. Looking specifically at this weekend, how long do you start planning to manage a back-to-back pair of races such as this Baku-Miami one, that are a very long distance apart on different continents?
In these cases, one of the main aims is to transfer the whole group onward to the venue of the second race as quickly as possible, so that the team members have as much time as possible to gradually get used to being in a different time zone. Operationally, we try and give those team members who work on the race cars full-time during the weekend, a slightly easier schedule on the set-up days.
3. Personally, what do you like most about your job with Scuderia Ferrari?
I’d say solving complex situations that can arise unexpectedly relating to the movement of people or freight. These can be tricky to deal with and securing a positive outcome is a great reward for all our efforts. And then, quite simply seeing that everything has gone to plan.
Profile
Sergio Bondi
Born on: 18/7/76
City: Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Miami Grand Prix: facts & figures
3. The most Formula 1 World Championship races staged in one country in a single season, something that has only ever happened three times. This year, that’s the case in the United States, with the Miami Grand Prix followed by the United States GP at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas and the penultimate round of the championship, the Las Vegas GP. In 1982, the USA also staged three races, at Long Beach, Detroit and Las Vegas, the latter at a completely different track to this year’s race. In 2020, there were three rounds in Italy at Monza, Mugello (which coincided with the Scuderia’s 1000th GP) and Imola.
5. The number of major American sports leagues and Miami is involved in all of them. The Dolphins play in the NFL (National Football League) and have won two Super Bowls in 1972 and 1973, along with five American Football Conference wins (1971, 1972, 1973, 1982 and 1984); Heat plays in the NBA (National Basketball Association) with three titles won (2005-06; 2011-12 and 2012-13). The Florida Panthers play in the city in the NHL (National Hockey League), getting to the final of the Stanley Cup in 1996. In MLB (Major League Baseball) the city is represented by the Marlins who won the title in 1997 and 2003 and finally in football (MLS, Major League Soccer), there’s Inter Miami who made it to the first round of the playoffs last year.
21. Circuits currently in use in Florida: of course the best known are Daytona, Sebring (which hosted the United States Grand Prix in 1959) and Homestead. In total, there are 14 ovals, six road courses and the venue for this weekend’s Grand Prix running around the Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami International Autodrome.
45. The number of overtaking moves in the inaugural Miami Grand Prix. Last year, Scuderia Ferrari locked out the front row in qualifying, with both drivers making it to the podium on Sunday – Charles second and Carlos third.
470,000. The population of Miami. The biggest city in Florida in terms of population is Jacksonville, near the border with Georgia, with 907,000 inhabitants. Florida is the third most populous state in the USA and its capital is Tallahassee with a population of just under 200,000.