At the beginning of the Miami weekend, Lando Norris’ evolved McLaren seemed capable of troubling Max Verstappen. However, between the Sprint race and the Grand Prix qualifying, it was Ferrari that took the spotlight, placing Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz behind the number 1 Red Bull with a very solid performance.
It wasn’t a given; the SF24 is still in its original version, but while awaiting updates coming in the next round at Imola, everything seems to be in place to leave Miami with a good haul of points.
After the Sprint race, expectations for qualifying were high. Second and third place represent a good base to build a strong race, but Frederic Vasseur wasn’t entirely satisfied after qualifying.
“There’s a slight sense of frustration because we hoped for a better result,” confirmed the Scuderia’s team principal, “but we saw that all the teams in Q3 struggled to put together a clean lap. However, we can say that our preparation for fast laps went well.”
The 141 milliseconds that separated Max Verstappen, the provisional pole sitter, from Charles Leclerc at the end of the first Q3 run convinced Charles and the Scuderia’s garage that dreaming big in the final assault wasn’t prohibited. “I went all-in,” admitted the Monegasque, “but conditions changed. I’m not sure if it was a matter of wind or track, but in the second timed lap, almost no one improved. Still, I’m happy with second place and the tire preparation on the out-lap.”
Overall, Ferrari’s performance was better compared to two weeks ago in China. The SF24 still struggles in low-speed sections, but in Miami, the issue had a lesser impact compared to Shanghai. “There are still things we don’t understand,” admitted Charles Leclerc, “but the feeling was undoubtedly better than two weeks ago.”
Now, all attention is on the 57-lap race. The taste of the sprint race confirmed that Verstappen has a slight edge in race pace, but it’s a narrow margin. “It seems our race pace is a bit slower than Max’s,” confirmed Fred Vasseur, “so the most important thing will be to have a good first lap and try to utilize the DRS, which is very strong on this track.”
Ferrari can also rely on Carlos Sainz, third in qualifying thanks to a time 5 milliseconds faster than Perez. “When Max starts ahead, it’s always difficult to find a way to beat him,” explained Carlos, “but if Charles and I maintain our positions at the end of the first few laps, we’ll have a chance to challenge Max with two cars.”
In other scenarios, “two against one” allows for strategy differentiation, but in Miami, margins are very tight. The race will be one-stop, and there don’t seem to be many variations in tire choices beyond the announced medium-soft. “Unfortunately, the tire compounds brought to the track this weekend are a bit conservative,” admitted Carlos Sainz, “and this limits the possibilities in terms of strategies.” However, CharlesLeclerc expressed confidence in some setup changes made to the car after the Sprint race. “We should have made progress; we’ll see.”
In yesterday’s race, Carlos Sainz couldn’t overtake Daniel Ricciardo’s Racing Bulls, even when Daniel didn’t have DRS available, but Carlos confirmed not fearing the same situation in today’s Grand Prix.
“It’s a matter of setup choices,” explained Carlos, “the ones made on Daniel’s car allowed him to have a lot of acceleration out of the low-speed corners, making him difficult to pass. But I shouldn’t have been in that position if the Sprint race qualifying had gone the right way. In the Grand Prix, I’ll start from a better position and will have to deal with opponents who have aerodynamic load levels and top speeds similar to ours. So, I expect the overall scenario to be better.”
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