Ferrari regarded robust all by the Miami F1 weekend, but a number of hiccups meant that the Italian squad was unable to completely exploit the potential of their SF-24.
Having nearly swept into the lead within the dash race, Leclerc had a foul getaway in the principle race, with his teammate Carlos Sainz scooting previous. The Ferrari pair was then nearly taken out into Turn 1 by overambitious Sergio Perez, who outbraked himself and nearly crashed into his team-mate.
The Monégasque then had a protracted battle with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri earlier than performing an early tyre service. With the safety automobile making an look shortly afterwards, he was left on very previous hards to complete the race. However, he stored his composure to seize one other podium end in Miami.
Commenting on his day in Miami, Leclerc mentioned: “A tricky race in the present day. The first lap was a detailed name and fortunately we acquired away with none harm there. We held second place, specializing in tyre administration.
“We stopped slightly early, which sadly value us after a Virtual Safety Car and Safety Car had been deployed, giving others the chance to pit. We struggled on older tyres, and needed to combat to maintain the tempo. We have our upgrades coming shortly, so hopefully we will be a part of the combat for victories quickly. Congratulations to Lando (Norris) for his first victory, I hope he enjoys it absolutely.”
Carlos Sainz displayed encouraging pace throughout the whole race, but he by no means actually had the prospect to indicate his actual pace as he was caught in visitors for nearly everything of the race. The Spaniard had an awesome getaway, but he needed to take evasive motion firstly to keep away from a contact with an overambitious Sergio Perez. He was later concerned in a small conflict with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri which noticed him obtain a five-second penalty. As a consequence, the Madrid-born driver completed fourth, but the penalty dropped him again to P5.
Speaking of his race in Florida, Sainz commented: “Congratulations to Lando, I’m actually pleased for him! He deserved a win for a very long time and in the present day was his day. Looking at my race I might say the alternative, it wasn’t my day. The begin was excellent but I went from P2 at flip 1 to P4 after having to keep away from Perez.
“From there I used to be in a DRS practice for some laps and determined to open the hole, deal with the tyres and lengthen my first stint to strive one thing completely different. Unfortunately, the Safety Car got here out the lap after I pitted and we misplaced an opportunity to guide the race. It is what it’s. However, I’m fairly pleased with my race as a result of the tempo was very robust and on the finish of the day we scored good factors for the group. On to the following one.”
We’ve mentioned it earlier than and we’ll say it once more: nobody is secure when Fred is round 😅 🍾 #MiamiGP 🇺🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/o1VWfEzsFF
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) May 6, 2024
Expressing his ideas on the Miami Grand Prix, Ferrari group boss Fred Vasseur added:”First of all I need to congratulate Lando and McLaren as a result of it’s a primary win for a driver who may be very widespread within the paddock and we’re pleased for him. It was additionally consequence for Formula 1 as an entire.
“From our aspect we had a robust race and we had been capable of keep with Max (Verstappen) all race lengthy. We had been a bit unlucky with the Safety Car with Carlos but it’s what it’s and we have now to stay with the positives, particularly the truth that the tempo was there all weekend. Charles had a fairly easy race.
“However, for Carlos the beginning was not superb due to Perez’s mistake at flip 1. Today monitor position was crucial, because it was very tough to overhaul and he misplaced two locations by the primary two corners. However he had excellent tempo and was capable of come again on the finish. The subsequent Grand Prix is in Imola, which has been the scene of some actually thrilling racing in recent times. Before then everybody in Maranello will probably be working arduous to make sure we get a greater consequence than we did in the present day.”
