Ferrari, the fifth force in the Miami line-up
Seventh and eighth at the end of the Grand Prix, the Scuderia continues its tricky start to the season. However, this weekend in Miami was even more difficult, as the Italian team was beaten, on a regular basis, by Williams.
It’s a season start that Ferrari did not imagine. Second in the constructors’ championship last year, the recruitment of Hamilton and his arrival in Maranello this winter had given the Italian team hope for 2025. However, after six races, it is clear that Ferrari is struggling to achieve convincing results. While they experienced a painful round in China with a double disqualification, the Miami Grand Prix this weekend was probably even harder to endure. Indeed, although the communication at the end of the race was not good, the problem with the SF-25 lies in its lack of performance.
On the Florida track, Frédéric Vasseur’s team was simply the fifth force on the grid if we look at the telemetry data. This observation was made throughout the weekend. During Saturday’s qualifying, Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 for the first time this season, finishing in a distant 12th place. Meanwhile, Leclerc could do no better than 8th place, more than half a second behind poleman Max Verstappen, but most notably behind the two Williams cars of Albon and his former teammate Carlos Sainz.
A single-seater lacking aerodynamic downforce
If we take a closer look at the telemetry, it becomes apparent that it is mainly in the first two sectors where Ferrari struggles the most. The sequence of fast corners in sector 1 and the more winding section of sector 2 does not suit the Italian cars at all, as they primarily suffer in braking and corner exits, with consistent instability at the rear. According to the data, Leclerc lost 0.4 seconds to Verstappen in the first sector alone. This gap widened even further in the second sector, with Ferrari’s tires overheating, causing the car to lose even more grip, especially between corners 11 and 16.
Unfortunately, during the race, the situation did not improve. While Hamilton attempted an alternate strategy by starting on hard tires and gained a position over Hadjar at the start, the pace of the red cars simply wasn’t fast enough. Leclerc couldn’t manage to overtake the Williams cars, while the Briton stayed behind Esteban Ocon for 23 laps before finally finding an opening.
A good tire strategy, a bad team strategy
In its misfortune, luck smiled on Ferrari when the VSC intervened at the time of Ollie Bearman’s abandonment. The former Mercedes driver took advantage of it to pit and fit medium tires. A battle then ensued between the two Ferraris and Carlos Sainz. Nevertheless, even if team orders were not perfectly orchestrated, the Italian car simply lacked performance.
In the last lap, Sainz, although overtaken by the two Ferraris on lap 31, managed to stay just behind the two drivers and even attempted an overtake on Hamilton in the final corner, without success. Ultimately finishing seventh and eighth, Ferrari comes away this Sunday with 10 points. That’s three fewer than Red Bull but especially two fewer than Williams. An anomaly given the performances of the two cars last season.
A season without a victory for Ferrari?
Ferrari must therefore urgently find solutions. If Leclerc has stated that the team knows its weaknesses, it is now crucial to address them quickly if Ferrari wants to aim for podiums and victories again. Apart from the developments the team could make, Ferrari must also understand its car, which seems difficult due to a very narrow optimal performance window this season.
The Italian team has a week’s break to get there. And what if the start of the European tour, especially on their home ground in Imola, marked the return of Ferrari to the forefront? Only the track will tell us.
