“Now it’s up to us to develop” – Mattia Binotto did not hide his disappointment at the end of the Miami Grand Prix, a race which was won by Max Verstappen quite clearly. The Red Bull driver started from the second row, but in the first corner he passed Carlos Sainz and managed to get the better of Charles Leclerc in the first stint with medium tires, which ended with about four seconds ahead of his fellow Ferrari driver.
With the hard tires the comparison proved to be much more leveled, but Max Verstappen managed to marginally win the challenge for the fastest lap and finished ahead by just a few seconds on the end after the Safety Car entered the track which gave some hope in the final part of the race for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc to overturn the result. Unfortunately this did not materialize for a handful of meters on the two occasions in which in the straight towards Corner 11 Charles Leclerc tried to overtake his rival on the inside.
The Ferrari team principal did speak of Red Bull’s superiority, but quantifiable in a few tenths, more precisely two tenths, and in particular conditions (the first stint with medium tires). Mattia Binotto also reiterated that the RB18 is faster than the F1-75 not only in the straights, and in fact the post race analysis has highlighted the strength of Red Bull in Miami in the corners below 100 km / h.
According to former Scuderia Ferrari driver Jean Alesi, however, the current F1-75 car even without updates – the long-awaited new floor should arrive in Barcelona – can already match Red Bull: “My belief is that we can’t really talk about a Red Bull advantage over Ferrari. The two cars are equal – writes the former Ferrari driver in his an editorial for Il Corriere della Sera – technical developments will arrive, but I am not here waiting for them as a miracle. It is not necessary” – he added.
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While Charles Leclerc has 19 points clear of Max Verstappen in the drivers ‘standings ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari has only 6 over Red Bull in the constructors’ standings. But after the two zeros in Melbourne and Imola, Carlos Sainz got back on track in Miami, despite the fact that on Friday’s second free practice he hit the wall. According to Jean Alesi, the place lost at the start by the Spaniard against Max Verstappen is due to the recent KOs: “I think his hesitation at the start was dictated by the accidents he suffered in the last two races. Next time he will behave differently.” – Jean Alesi concluded.
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