The photocopy between the Sprint qualifying line-up and the finishing order of the Sprint itself should not be misleading. Obviously the Miami track does not facilitate overtaking, often resulting in a series of DRS trains, in which the speed differential between the various single-seaters is practically nil, but the difference between the Sprint and today’s race will be widely seen at the level of strategies, considering the difference in petrol load that characterizes them. In essence, in addition to the track design not being conducive to overtaking, in the Sprint two factors influenced the maintenance of the same starting positions among the first six cars. The first concerns the zero degradation of the tires thanks to the reduced quantity of fuel taken on board to cover 19 laps. The second, prudence, or the need on the part of the drivers not to jeopardize the integrity of the single-seater, risking not being able to take part in the subsequent qualifying for today’s race.
evolution
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What emerged, in any case, concerns the level of competitiveness of the various single-seaters, which is constantly evolving. Focusing on Ferrari, it seemed clear that the pace of Leclerc and Sainz was in fact limited precisely by the inadvisability of attempting maneuvers at the limit, in the case of the Monegasque in an attempt to immediately overtake Verstappen at the start of the Sprint, while for the Spaniard, the reduced length of the DRS section on the home straight would have required a more decisive but decidedly riskier attack to overtake Ricciardo. An interesting note, which concerns the choice of setup adopted in the shootout and in the Sprint by Leclerc, concerns a difference (although not accentuated) in the dynamic setup between his SF-24 and that of Sainz. Specifically, a more “reactive” set-up for the Monegasque had allowed him to more effectively center the level of grip between rubber and asphalt on Friday afternoon, while yesterday the difference was less marked.
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limited degradation
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As mentioned, the track is constantly evolving with a progressive increase in adhesive grip which should guarantee less degradation in the race than what emerged in FP1. In this sense, both SF-24s could enjoy a strategic advantage over their adversaries to exploit in today’s race. Ultimately, the SF-24s, on an asphalt with not very high grip, proved to be not far from the Red Bulls, who, precisely due to the variations in grip on the track, did not fully express their dominant potential seen on other occasions. The possibility of playing a match in which the weak points in terms of performance are less evident is within the reach of the two “red and blue”. And the result of qualifying, with two Ferraris able to get in Verstappen’s wake, will certainly be a further reason to push the reds.
