Sprint Qualifying for the Miami GP crowns Italy’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Anglo-German Mercedes. Ferrari, on the other hand, continues to struggle and can’t find the right balance to get the most out of the tricky SF-25. At the end of qualifying, Fred Vasseur did not hide the car’s weakness in Miami.
The two Maranello cars will start from sixth and seventh on the grid for the Sprint in Florida. Charles Leclerc will line up sixth, having completed a lap just three tenths behind pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli. One position behind will be Lewis Hamilton, whose less impressive lap was over half a second off the pace set by the young driver from Bologna in the Mercedes. Looking at the data, it’s clear the SF-25 loses everything in the second sector.
“Kimi is too far ahead, but we’re not that far from Max and the others in front,” noted Frédéric Vasseur. The French team principal continued: “But it’s not enough, we struggled to put everything together and we’re still making mistakes.”
Fred Vasseur admits the weak point: in Miami Ferrari loses everything in the middle sector
Fred Vasseur did not shy away from pointing out Ferrari’s Achilles’ heel in Miami: “We’re still struggling a bit with balance and we’re paying the price. As soon as we make small mistakes, the tyres overheat massively and we lose everything.”
The SF-25 continues to show greater limitations on single-lap performance. Ferrari is losing two of the three tenths to pole position in the middle sector. “The first sector is good, so is the last. We lose the most in low-speed corners — it’s a small balance issue. As soon as we have a minor problem with the car at the start of the second sector, we lose a couple of tenths through the series of corners.”
The French team principal holds more hope for race pace: “On Saturday, track temperatures will make the difference. With degradation and tyre management it will be a different story.” Then it will be time for Grand Prix qualifying, where Ferrari will have to try to recover something to avoid starting at the back of the top teams’ group.
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