Good start
The first of the three American weekends of this season started well for Ferrari, at least in purely timing terms: in fact, in the first free practice session for the Miami Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc set the third best time of the session, beaten only by the two Mercedes who set the fastest times using a new soft tire at the end of the session. However, the Maranallo team’s Monegasque driver preceded the championship leader Max Verstappen, fourth with the Red Bull and immediately ahead of the second red car of Carlos Sainz.
Gearbox replacement
If the first response from the track was positive, however, some small notes of attention for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc came from the reliability area. The Maranello #16, who finished third in Baku, in fact, competed in FP1 with a new gearbox, as certified by the official FIA statement that keeps track of the various components replaced on the drivers’ cars during the race weekend. For Charles Leclerc, this is the introduction of the second gearbox of the season, out of the four that can be used before incurring penalties.
New MGU-K
In a second statement from the federation, it emerged that Ferrari also decided to replace the MGU-K on Charles Leclerc’s car. Again, this was a completely expected rotation according to the regulations, since the Monegasque inaugurated his second unit out of four allowed throughout the entire championship. So, no risk of incurring a grid penalty for him.
New power unit for Ocon
Legitimate replacements also arrived at Alpine, specifically on Esteban Ocon’s car. The French team changed the entire power unit on car #31, thus mounting a second unit completely renewed in terms of components. Completing the list of replacements is also the replacement of the battery on Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. Again, no penalty for the Australian. In fact, two different components of this type can be used per season before incurring a grid penalty.
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