Ferrari Struggles in Miami Qualifying Vasseur Seeks Answers

May 8th, 2025, 1:59 PM
Ferrari Struggles in Miami Qualifying Vasseur Seeks Answers
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Both Ferraris failed to fully exploit the potential of the new tyres in the qualifying round for the Miami Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc managed to secure a top 10 spot with P8, but Lewis Hamilton ended up far from the desired positions with P14. Team boss Fred Vasseur even called it the worst qualification of the season and hopes to quickly identify the cause.

In the race, Charles Leclerc finished seventh, Lewis Hamilton eighth. Fred Vasseur believes that Ferrari achieved the maximum possible result in Miami. “Yes, I would say, if you don’t count Saturday’s qualification,” he told the media present. “In the qualification, our fastest lap, both for Charles and Lewis, was on used tyres. We failed to exploit the potential of the new tyres. We need to improve on that, so we can get the most out of the new tyres and take a step forward.”

For the Ferrari team boss, Miami was undoubtedly the lowest point. “I think we could have done better in the last two or three races, even though the qualification was not our strongest session. But Saturday was by far the worst of the season in terms of pure qualification, because we did not exploit the potential of the tyres at all. Everyone improved by five or six tenths on new tyres, while we lost two or three tenths.”

Used Tyres

Ferrari failed to identify the cause of the lack of pace on fresh rubber. “If I knew the answer to this, we would have solved it yesterday between Q2 and Q3,” said Vasseur. “It varies from circuit to circuit, from compound to compound, and from track time to track time. In hindsight, you always say, ‘Okay, I could have done it differently.'”

The Frenchman noticed that the pace in the race, on used tyres, was significantly better. “Our pace probably matched that of Red Bull and Mercedes. McLaren was on another planet. We never claimed we could fight with them, but with a better starting position, we could have joined the battle with Max and Mercedes.”

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