Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc tested Ferrari’s race pace in the only free practice session of the Miami Grand Prix. Other top teams did the same, dedicating time to testing with a high fuel load. The Maranello team worked intensely to find a good balance for the car, limiting themselves to just four laps to get a taste of what to expect in Saturday’s sprint race.
The SF-25 struggled in pure dynamics. For this reason, they adjusted the ride heights and suspension stiffness to achieve a better compromise. The move was insufficient, as by the end of the session the beam wing was also changed, fitting the single-element version. They thus attempted to correct the lack of rotation, but without much success.
Lewis over half a second faster than Leclerc, McLaren flies but is lighter
Data shows that McLaren appeared extremely fast: average lap times were identical for both drivers of the reigning world champion team, with Oscar Piastri completing one more lap than Lando Norris. The Woking team may have been running with less fuel on board to prepare for Sunday’s race. However, the MCL39 also showed understeer in the slow section, particularly at corner entry.
The Ferrari duo has a 0.5-second gap with Lewis Hamilton and even more with Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque particularly struggled in the first sector, where in long run simulations he lost over six tenths to his teammate. The Briton adapted better to the setup changes, maintaining a higher average speed through the entire fast section of Sector 1. In particular, he got on the throttle earlier exiting Turn 1, thus carrying more speed into the initial snake.
Furthermore, the Ferrari drivers are hitting the apex earlier in Turn 7 to maximize speed on the following straight. High lap times for both Red Bull drivers, who also ran with a high fuel load. Both Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen struggled to find a good balance, especially in Sector 1. In the snake section, ride heights were unstable, an element that undermined driver confidence, making them the slowest in that sector.
Charles Leclerc regains confidence, Mercedes runs over 15 laps
The Mercedes drivers mainly focused on race pace simulations. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli completed around 15 consecutive laps in the final part of the session, testing conditions for Sunday’s race. Both ran on medium tires, but with different strategies: the Italian adopted a more cautious approach, which seems to have paid off in terms of tire management.
However, the relatively simple layout of the Miami track did not cause significant tire degradation, with George Russell maintaining a generally consistent pace. This data will be crucial for all teams ahead of the two weekend races. Engineers may opt for more aggressive tire management setups, given the virtually nonexistent wear.
Charles Leclerc’s lap time trend shows how the Monegasque only regained confidence as the laps went on. Charles Leclerc struggled with the low grip present at the start of the session and was forced to build up his feeling gradually. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, was immediately sharp, setting his push lap with a time over a second faster than his Maranello teammate.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris had different approaches: the Australian showed an unusual increase in lap time between the second and third laps, likely due to traffic. The presence of all the cars on track, each with a different program, complicated data collection for both Ferrari and Mercedes. Teams use dedicated software to filter out traffic situations to analyze tire degradation more accurately.
What emerged from the race pace simulation does not yet clarify Ferrari’s true competitiveness. As happened in China, it’s possible that the SF-25 could recover performance in the Sprint Race, running with lower ride heights. However, the understeer problem highlighted today seems to be affecting Charles Leclerc in particular, who will have to rely on data gathered by Hamilton to regain confidence heading into the rest of the Miami weekend.
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