In Miami, seven power units of the top 10 single-seaters were from Stuttgart. The Ferrari driver defended himself with his teeth, including early braking on the straight to reload and early closure of the Macarena wing
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, lone warriors in the land of the Star. The Miami GP told of a dominance, that of the Mercedes-powered ones, which saw only the two Ferraris and the Dutchman’s Red Bull able to interrupt a ranking that has seven cars driven by the German power unit in the top ten, that is, all those that reached the finish line at full speed. A merciless fact, which explains an advantage made even more evident on a track where the long straights surrounding the Hard Rock Stadium reward those with more horsepower and better delivery of electric power. And it is no coincidence that Charles even went so far as to brake on the straight just to defend the podium.
leclerc tries
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Over three kilometers of straights and an average speed of 223 km/h. These data are enough to understand why on the asphalt of the Miami International Autodrome the dominance of the Mercedes engine was already written history. The advantage of the German power unit is too great, capable of exposing the difficulties of a Ferrari that is paying for a now clear deficit in engine horsepower. After all, it was already clear from the sprint qualifying, when the two reds had made up more than three tenths of a gap from Norris in just one sector, the second, where it is almost exclusively the push of the Power Unit that counts. Leclerc tried anyway, even leading for about fifteen laps after a great maneuver at the start, able to brake before Verstappen and Antonelli, both wide in turn one. From there a slow decline towards third place, also favored by a too early call from the pit wall. At the end, Oscar Piastri arrived to threaten the Monegasque’s podium, driving a reborn McLaren. Thanks to the updates, but also to the second specification of the Mercedes engine, whose software it seems that they have learned to understand and manage in Woking.
brake first
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Charles only has to defend himself as he knows how, but with a difference compared to the past: with the new single-seaters it is no longer convenient to brake late, but to anticipate braking to charge the battery and take advantage of the greater thrust of the electric on the straight. A strategy that the Monegasque had successfully exploited to overtake Verstappen’s Red Bull, which was very fast on the straight also thanks to an extreme version of the “rotating” wing. But with Piastri things get more complicated. Charles raises his foot early to let the Australian slip out, the “Macarena” wing closes early, to the point of raising suspicions of a technical problem. The objective is to pass him in a straight line, taking advantage of the energy recharged with overtaking mode. “It’s the only way I can stay close,” he explains over the radio. But this time it’s not enough: Piastri runs away and Leclerc’s podium hopes are dashed in the cloud of a spin.
solutions
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But is there a solution to make up for the gap with the Mercedes engine? Wait. The possibility of intervening on the Cavallino Power Unit is in fact linked to the ADUO parameters defined by the FIA. These are correction margins decided on the basis of the deficit detected by the best engine (the Mercedes one, if there were any doubts), with an intervention window between 2% and 4%. We will soon find out how much the Red will be able to do with its engine, in the meantime one area of work must be that of energy management logic, another aspect where they were able to do better in Brixworth than in Maranello. “Verstappen came to compete for the title last year by winning from Monza, I still believe in the championship,” promises Vasseur. But in the meantime, waiting (perhaps) for a new engine, Mercedes runs away.
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