High Noon in Miami
“High Noon,” released in 1952 and directed by Fred Zinnemann, is one of the most famous Westerns of all time. Based on the short story “The Tin Star,” by John W. Cunningham, the film starred Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly and is ranked 27th in the all-time most important films in the history of cinema by the American Film Institute. It tells the tale of a duel between Sheriff Willy Kane, a role which earned Cooper an Oscar, and the bandit Frank Miller. The story has been retold as a comedy, in the almost equally famous 1974 film Blazing Saddles, directed by Mel Brooks.
There's a Formula 1 duel starting today at High Noon, over the 19 laps of the Sprint Race, between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, who will start from the front row on the stroke of noon of the second day of the Miami Grand Prix. It's going to be very hot on track at the Miami International Autodrome where the surface temperature during yesterday's free practice session went well past the 55 °C mark. And it will be a hot duel between peers, both born just a few weeks apart in 1997, Max on 30 September and Charles on 16 October. Charles will be well aware that perhaps his only chance of beating the three-time world champion, at least in the Sprint, will come at the start.
The two men are even sporting similar looks, with a goatee and moustache, albeit Charles' is more styled and trendy, while Max has gone for a more casual approach. However, while in Westerns, the difference between the good and the bad is usually clearly marked, with “High Noon” being no exception, in Formula 1 these roles are harder to assign. Maybe Max is the “baddie” but only because of his seemingly unstoppable dominance, while Charles is the classic “boy next door.” He is also on paper, in terms of ability and the technical means at his disposal, the best placed to try and interrupt that Red Bull winning streak, given that Ferrari is the only team to have done so – twice since 2023 – albeit thanks to Leclerc's team-mate Carlos Sainz.
To find out how the Miami challenge will end, one only has to wait until shortly after half-past midday today (Miami time). Who knows, maybe someone other than these two might be chuckling to themselves, just like in the Mel Brooks film.
