Miami GP who knows a little about mockery for Ferrarion the podium yes with Charles Leclerc but with the feeling of having missed an opportunity to obtain a better result. For goodness sake, the victory of Norris it is also deserved because the McLaren of the English driver was clearly the fastest car on the track Floridaand this is an established fact, as is the probable and understandable disappointment of the Monegasque, who once again failed to take advantage of a Verstappen it’s a Red Bull during the day, let’s say, no.
All of this, as happened in the minutes following the checkered flag, is due to the updates that the Stable Of Maranello he hasn’t brought yet and that he will ride on the two SF-24 to Imola in two weeks. We’re talking about a substantial updatebut a little almost overshadowed by the team principal Frederic Vasseur after last night’s match. The drivers seem to be awaiting it with more emphasis: there is talk of two, three tenths that Ferrari should acquire per lap, but in short, these are still too far-fetched discussions.
The certainly positive thing, however, lies in the pace demonstrated by Leclerc And Sainz during the race: the Monegasque kept Verstappen’s pace for practically the entire afternoon You love mewith Max that yes, he had that tenth more per lap than the two Ferrari drivers, but we are not talking about anything transcendental considering the base car driven by the two “Carletti”. It was himself who really made the difference Norriswith a McLaren MCL38 overturned, a bit as if it were a B version of the car admired until two weeks ago China.
Ferrari, Leclerc at Verstappen’s pace with the “basic” SF-24
However, the Ferrari she seemed more on the ball again Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque, after having regained his position on Sainz after a more than bad start, he managed to keep up with Plates without, however, having the speed necessary to overtake him at the end of the straight. Carlos he was indeed close to his shoulders, but there didn’t seem to be that substantial difference between the two to make the switch of positions loudly requested by the Spaniard, ignored by the wall.
The goodness of the race Leclerc however it was clearly visible in the second stintthe one with the hard ones: after the Safety CharCharles was the one with the most worn tires of all, yet he kept the pace very well Verstappenfinishing only a couple of seconds behind him, a sign of how the SF-24 is really on the right track this year, and now the main thing will be not to screw up the updates planned for in any way Imolaotherwise it would be a real tragedy for the rest of the championship Ferrari.
Charles he also takes it out on Perez for the wicked maneuver at the start, when he risked destroying his race, that of the two “Carletti” and Max Verstappen, who watched the replays at the back of the podium with absolute dismay at his teammate’s maneuver. The Monegasque admits it start far from excellent, but try to explain why.
“We program the machine in one way – Charles tells us -. About getting ahead of the others to get some grip and we were a bit aggressive to try to pass Max in turn 1. We went further, I skated and then tried to recover, but then Checo he took too many risks and luckily he didn’t take me.”
“I managed to hold second position and keep a pace that was not aggressive for the tyres. I stopped quite early for the pit stop, and this meant I couldn’t take advantage of the Virtual Safety Char and of Safety Char which allowed other drivers to stop for the pit stop, losing less time than us. In the final stages I struggled a bit with very used tires and it wasn’t easy to maintain a competitive pace. Soon we will have some technical developments, with which I hope we will return to fighting for victory“.
Ferrari: damage and final insult for Carlos Sainz
It smacks of a lot of mockery on Sunday Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard was also fourth at the finish line penalized with five seconds to be discounted in the final result for that slight contact with Plates and which indeed destroyed the race of the driver of the McLarenthe fortuitous causes that led to the contact only gave the Ferrari driver a reduction in the sentence, which should have been, according to the commissioners of the FIA of ten seconds plus two points on the license, and instead everything was halved.
Considering the maneuver of Perez starting then, given that in theory one shouldn’t look at the causes, the Mexican should have been given a life sentence, but that’s it. Sainz he is happy with his behavior Ferraricertainly better than the first parc fermé, but it was a weekend more no than yes for the Spanish part of the Scuderia del Prancing Horse garage.
“My start was very good – admits Sainz – but at the first corner I had to avoid Perez who had arrived long and I slipped from second to fourth position. From that moment I found myself in a train of single-seaters all with DRS: I tried to increase the gap by treating the tires carefully to try to delay the pit stop and therefore try a different strategy”.
The worst of bad luck comes when Carlos enters the pits and arrives there after just one lap Safety Char for the accident between Magnussen And Sargeant. Had he entered earlier, the Spaniard would have had great opportunities to get on the podium, and perhaps even win, as he himself admitted: “Unfortunately the Safety Char it intervened on the lap after my stop and so we lost the chance to fight for the victory. However, it was a good race, with a consistently competitive pace that allowed us to bring home important points“.
Author: Andrea Bovone
Images: Scuderia Ferrari
