Max Verstappen raises fresh concern amid heavy rain risk

Max Verstappen has raised a fresh concern amid the risk of heavy rain on Sunday for the Miami Grand Prix: that the circuit's drainage could be a critical problem.

Heavy rain and possible thunderstorms are forecast across Miami on race day, with several drivers having spoken out on the challenges it poses to the grand prix.

Williams' Carlos Sainz has raised concerns over the level of electrical power and suggested that it should be decreased if rain falls, while championship leader Kimi Antonelli believes the temperature of tyre blankets needs increasing.

Verstappen has echoed those concerns but also raised an additional issue at the Miami International Autodrome, outlining that drainage is a problem.

Last year's Sprint race saw significant standing water at parts of the circuit leading to poor visibility, although the Dutchman is eager to wait and see what the weather brings on Sunday.

"Yeah, all that. But also, I think the drainage around here in the parking lot is probably a bit more tricky as well.

"I think we saw last year on the laps to the grid for the Sprint that there was a lot of standing water.

"But yeah, we can speculate about it now — we just have to wait and see on Sunday what will happen."

Hadjar's 'very tricky' wet weather experience

One area Verstappen's team-mate Isack Hadjar is confident will not be an issue is closing speeds in the wet, following the changes made by the FIA ahead of this weekend.

However, the Frenchman does agree with Antonelli's view that the temperature of the tyre blankets needs increasing if it rains, having experienced wet weather while filming at Silverstone.

"I think on the safety point of view, it’s important that at least in these conditions, if it’s raining very hard, visibility is poor, we don’t want to see big closing speeds," said Hadjar. 

"But with the changes made, it should be all good. And then obviously purely grip-wise, I completely agree with Kimi. Also, I experienced myself quite a bit of mileage in the rain so far and it’s been very tricky with the inter tyres to put any temperature. 

"Once there’s quite a lot of water, it feels like the wet is immediately the tyre you want to race on because it’s very hard to put any temp. So let’s see how it goes. Of course, it’s not ideal to have a first race straight away in the rain. 

"You would like to have a read maybe even in qualifying, but going straight away to rain would be fun."