A number of upgrades and the fortuitous timing of the safety car helped Lando Norris claim his first F1 victory at Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix. The results were announced in a week when the Woking-based team introduced a number of MCL38 upgrades to the track, leaving some of their rivals wondering whether they will be able to offer similar performance gains with their own upgrades in the coming weeks. thought.
Who are some of those competitors? Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
Following his success in Miami, where he finished second in the F1 sprint race and third in the main event, Leclerc had doubts about Ferrari introducing its own upgrades immediately after the Miami Grand Prix.
“Yeah, well, first of all, I’m really happy for Rand. He deserves it. So many times he’s gotten so close to it and for whatever reason he didn’t make it. But today he did a great job and continued to do that all weekend. And I think there were already laps in Q2 where I thought, “OK, they’re very, very strong.” And we expected them to be strong, but maybe not as strong as they showed today, but he fully deserves it,” said Leclerc. From trackside to Jenson Button After the race.
“And it’s up to us to hopefully deploy upgrades very quickly to catch up.”
Will Ferrari be able to match McLaren’s pace with its own upgrades? This was the question Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur asked the media. SB Nationat Ferrari’s hospitality space after the Miami Grand Prix.
“Certainly in qualifying there are four or five cars within a tenth of each other.” [of a second]if you brought a tenth [via an upgrade package], that’s a game changer for the weekend,” Vasseur said Sunday night. That’s true, but a big part of that also comes from what we do with our drivers, how we set up the car at the weekend, how we manage the tires, and we don’t just have to think about upgrades and development. do not have. ”
Vasseur was then asked by the media whether the upcoming Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and its proximity to Ferrari’s factory would add pressure to accelerate development ahead of that weekend.
“No, when we are doing development, we don’t want to bring something to Imola in Italy. We are pushing forward with development and producing parts as soon as they are ready,” said Vasseur. said on Sunday night. “The fact that Imola is close to the factory also helps us bring things in because we can release parts a little later. But I don’t know, it had nothing to do with Italy.
“Again, don’t expect this to be a game changer, but it’s not tight enough to perform.”
Vasseur ended his remarks to the media with a comparison to Red Bull, pointing out how much closer Ferrari are to their rivals now than they were before the season.
“The truth is we’re where we are compared to a year ago when we did a good job and were able to put everything together. That means we’re making progress.” [Red Bull] There’s a little bit of pressure. They need to be a little more proactive with their strategy,” Vasseur began.
“They’re not in the comfort zone anymore like they were last year. Last year it didn’t matter what happened after the second lap, they were in the lead, but I think that’s a game changer in race management. ” added Bassour.
“And this is an opportunity for us because I think if we can take another little step, we’ll be in a position to really compete against them every weekend.”
With that, Vasseur left with a wink and a smile.
Perhaps this is a sign that the battle on the front lines is starting in earnest this season.
