Ferrari closed the gap on Red Bull in qualifying, pulling away from McLaren's upgraded MCL38, with sprint race data showing Ferrari second on race pace behind Max Verstappen.
It was Saturday in Miami, and while Mercedes was recovering from Friday's disappointment, McLaren was mulling upgrades.
qualified analysis
Ferrari closes gap with Red Bull, runs away from McLaren's '2.0' car
Everything seemed to indicate that McLaren, who had the best pace in sprint qualifying, could be a pole contender in Miami on Saturday. There must be no difference from the truth.
Although it was a hard-fought battle, Red Bull returned to their dominant position with Max Verstappen taking pole position again this season. Ferrari took advantage of the high track temperatures to make its soft tires work optimally.
The Italian team trailed Red Bull in all three sectors, but were only a few thousandths of a second off the pace. They made significant progress heading into the critical phase of the weekend.
Mercedes takes baby steps after a difficult start to the weekend
After a disappointing start to the weekend, Mercedes has returned to its original position, although it is still far behind McLaren and Ferrari.
In qualifying, he saved the day with a car that was completely unpredictable and had different performance from session to session. Three-tenths of a second was saved compared to the Sprint Quali, but of course this could be due to the jump between the medium and soft tires.
Perhaps that's the key to small jumps in performance. The Silver Arrows needed soft tires to find the grip they couldn't find in sprint qualifying, as remember both cars were eliminated before SQ3, the only time soft sets were at their disposal.
Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo: big disappointment
Daniel Ricciardo's actions and Fernando Alonso's words have given them more hope ahead of qualifying.
The Australian finished a surprising 4th place in the sprint qualification, but fell back to a very disappointing 18th place in the race. This means he loses the chance to compete for points with his teammates.
The situation is similar for the Spaniards. The Aston Martin driver commented that he has completely gotten over the sprint format and is focused on qualifying and Sunday's race.
But his words were not reflected on the track. Unusually, Lance Stroll has clearly outperformed him so far this weekend. It didn't help that this car was the worst performing car on the grid in Miami compared to 2023.
sprint race analysis
A quick look at the race pace boxplot reveals a few interesting things. Some are reflected in the track, while others receive little attention.
Firstly, both Ferraris have great pace and time consistency, especially Charles Leclerc, who achieved a very promising average pace on Sunday and will be out to hold off the other Red Bull driver Sergio Perez.
On the other hand, the absence of traffic jams is important in Miami. On circuits where overtaking is very difficult, as in the case of Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri and both McLarens, the DRS effect is very important. Just because you're driving a fast car doesn't mean you'll be in front of a slower car.
Although expected, one of the unknowns was tire deterioration. Almost nothing, some drivers even pushing at the end of sprint races.
However, looking at the data, the team that suffered the most in this regard was Mercedes.
Verstappen has always been unbeatable when it comes to winning sprint races. However, he was unable to get past Leclerc, who finished just 2.5 seconds behind.
The same goes for Ferrari drivers, but also for Perez. The Mexican driver was unable to get close to Leclerc throughout the race, finishing two seconds behind Leclerc.
Ricciardo secured a deserved fourth place after some great defending against Sainz and Piastri.
The Australian is finally getting used to the car, and the improvements in his RB seem to be paying off, despite being one of the drivers with less top speed in the sprint quarters (remember there's parc fermé) ), managed to defend what initially seemed impossible.
This defense of Ricciardo prevented Sainz and Piastri from realizing their true potential and prevented them from seeing where the real gap between McLaren and Ferrari was. Still, the Italian team seemed to have the upper hand in the first long run of the weekend.
However, as Norris went out at Turn 1, it was not possible to observe the McLaren 2.0's behavior and analyze its race pace. We'll have to wait a few more hours to find out.
Opinions regarding penalties
There is no data or logical sense that can explain or analyze the stewards' application of penalties this season. Indeed, this issue has been an unresolved debate and issue for years, but we're only six rounds into the 2024 season and there are already alarming and blatant issues. This is not an isolated case.
In particular, we are starting to see cases that follow some kind of parallel, with different penalties depending on who is behind the wheel. And unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a surefire, quick fix.
Will the same steward serve throughout the season, like the referee in tennis? Would you like a complete review of the entire rulebook article by article? Both?
Sure, it would be much better to talk about what happened on the track than to talk about this topic, but for the good of the sport and the show, we need to demand change.
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