It’s been more than a month since the last Formula 1 race, but if it rains hard enough this weekend in Miami, the racing drought may be extended almost another month. According to Motorsport.com, this Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix is in danger of being suspended reportedly due to a U.S. law that requires major outdoor public events be stopped in the event of thunderstorms. Not only would a thunderstorm be hazardous to spectators and present precarious racing conditions, but any medical helicopters would not be able to operate.
As of this writing, the National Weather Service lists a “minor” risk of thunderstorms for all of South Florida throughout Sunday, while AccuWeather is showing a 55 percent chance of thunderstorms on race day with a 91 percent chance and projected 15.2 mm of precipitation.
The NWS recommends the “30-30 rule,” which says a thunderstorm is close enough to be deemed dangerous if the delay between thunder and lightning is shorter than 30 seconds. In that scenario, it recommends waiting at least 30 minutes before leaving shelter. It also points out that Florida specifically “leads the U.S. in lightning deaths, injuries, and casualties,” and that lightning is the state’s number one “weather killer,” reportedly causing more deaths than all other weather events combined.
They haven’t raced since Japan
Because the April races in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were canceled due to the conflict in the Middle East, the last time we saw motorsport’s most prestigious series hit the track was all the way back in Japan on March 29. If Sunday’s race in Miami indeed gets suspended or canceled, it would effectively mean an almost two-month-long break for Formula 1 because the next one isn’t until the Canadian Grand Prix on May 24 in Montreal.
To put a two-month break into perspective, the gap between last season’s December 7 finale in Abu Dhabi and this season’s Australia opener on March 7 was three months, whereas F1’s mandated summer shutdown only creates a gap in races lasting about a month.
Although if you ask most fans who have actually been following F1 this season, perhaps a long, two-month spring break is just what the series needs to work through its new, controversial cars and regulations.
