Lando Norris’ first victory in F1 was enjoyed by the entire paddock. Victory for a fast rider, with a clean face and without (apparent) second thoughts: he had deserved this result for quite some time and indeed it was hard to understand why this success took so long. However…
…But if we try to call things by their correct name, Lando’s victory in Miami is a gift. If the safety car had entered in front of him, and not behind, the English driver would have crashed last or almost last. And from those quicksands not even a McLaren with retro-rockets would have taken him to the top of the podium. And this didn’t happen just by luck, as someone also pointed out in our comments: it happened due to an error by the race direction. Then of course, it turned out that the regulation in a technicality never used before allows such a thing. But such behavior has never been seen before in the history of Safety cars. Therefore it is legitimate to talk about an error on the part of the race director, not a coincidence. In any case, welcome Lando to the golden list of GP winners, but Zak Brown’s post-race statement (“We won with a perfect performance”) appears partial at best.
Having said that, Miami has put a much improved McLaren on the gaming table thanks to the latest package of technical improvements, and this must be taken into account. Especially because the Red Bull seen in Florida is a dull relative of the steamrollers seen on the track in the last two years. Even leaving aside Checo Perez’s crazy first corner, with its poisonous fruits for both Ferraris – but we’ll talk about that shortly -, and even without highlighting yet another inconsistent and not Red Bull-level race by Perez himself, Verstappen also in Miami he looked like a shadow of his former self. Various problems and problems, in braking and set-up, plagued him a bit throughout the weekend. Result: the package of protagonists in the sixth weekend of the championship was extremely close.
And here we go to question number one: without Perez’s crazy start, with his teammate Max almost being rear-ended and with Sainz starting like a slingshot and instead being forced to brake, what race would have been? Strictly speaking: without Perez out of orbit and without the wrong Safety and consequent gift to Norris, what Ferrari would have returned from Florida? Carlos Sainz has his idea: “Maybe we could have won.” Real? Is he optimistic too?
Doing the math, on Sunday Red Bull (Verstappen’s) and Ferrari were very close in race pace.
But Miami is not a circuit wide open to overtaking: it can almost only be overtaken in DRS mode. Therefore: in this condition of substantially equal performance, it is difficult to attack and get the better of Verstappen. Even with a slightly bruised Red Bull, he is still Max. Therefore, without all the above-mentioned factors, Ferrari would have perhaps brought home a second and third place, net of the penalty given to Sainz in the second part of the race.
Not the second victory of the season, therefore. But a double podium would have been a completely different result. And it would have meant nibbling away at some points for Red Bull, rather than limiting losses as happened instead.
But let’s not forget one detail: the Horner car had included a significant package of improvements in China, three races ago; the Reds have been racing in the exact same configuration since the first GP, and therefore they are at the end of the cycle because the first long-awaited package will arrive in Imola next week: modified floor, new front wing, revised aerodynamic and efficiency sides. It will not be worth seconds, but tenths, as Fred Vasseur was quick to cool. But with tenths, in an overall balanced championship like this one, tenths count a lot.
And here we close with a concept that we have been expressing for a long time. What makes the difference in this Ferrari 2024 is the Vasseur Method. The single-seater improved compared to a year ago, and immediately. But on this basis a team has been created that makes fewer mistakes than in the past, that no longer misses opportunities and in fact often manages to optimize them during the race.
A team that is not very easy to manage (and this has been underlined several times in your comments): Leclerc, the home favourite, is not in his best form and probably feels a bit of Hamilton’s shadow on the way; Sainz is very strong, also because he is looking for a seat for the future and at 29 years old he knows he has to play everything to his best. Yet in Ferrari there is no controversy, the conflicts between the drivers are limited to mini-skirmishes and the occasional complaint over the radio.
The method works, in short. Now the word to the Imola package.
