Mercedes’ race pace confirms itself as their strong point, but Ferrari can still believe. McLaren is chasing.
After more than a month’s break, following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, Formula 1 resumes from the Miami International Autodrome for the first of the three seasonal events scheduled in the United States. The Florida round will be the second Sprint-format weekend of the season, which makes the approach to the race even more complex.
In the only free practice session, extended by half an hour, the fastest was Charles Leclerc, at the wheel of an SF-26 with many updates, including the new version of the Macarena wing. The Maranello car proves to be the best in the fast corners of the first sector, thanks to increased aerodynamic downforce, while the weak point is still the engine, as highlighted especially in the final meters of the two long straights.
For the United States round, Pirelli has chosen to bring the softest tyre combination, consisting of C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium) and C5 (Soft). The Italian company therefore confirms the choice from last edition, which ended with a McLaren one-two, with Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris.
Speaking to Sky Sport F1 during the only free practice session, Pirelli Motorsport’s head, Mario Isola—at his last Formula 1 race before becoming general manager of ACI Sport—stated that the one-stop strategy turns out to be the fastest, barring any Virtual Safety Car or Safety Car, which can lead to changes in strategy, as happened in the 2024 edition, with Lando Norris’s victory.
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However, the main theme of this event is the weather: indeed, on Saturday, sunny conditions are expected, with track temperatures that can reach up to 52°C, which will certainly lead to significant tyre degradation in the Sprint race.
Much more uncertain is Sunday, with the weather forecast calling for the arrival of violent thunderstorms. In Florida, rain showers are intense and sudden: Charles Leclerc knows this well, having been involved in an accident due to a wet track before the start of the 2025 Sprint Race. Therefore, according to some rumours, the possibility of even changing the start time of Sunday’s race, scheduled for 10:00 PM Italian time, is being considered.
Race pace analysis FP1 Miami: the times from the only free practice session
Taking advantage of the extension from 60 to 90 minutes of the only practice session scheduled in the Sprint-format weekend, most drivers opted to run short long runs to assess tyre behaviour, especially with the Sprint in mind. However, teams followed very different programmes, with varying fuel loads.
The team that won the first three races of the season, Mercedes, opted to carry out a rather long simulation on hard tyres. George Russell was overall the fastest, with lap times consistently fluctuating between the high 1:32s and the low 1:33s, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was slightly less consistent, eventually lapping in the 1:34s in the final runs.
Despite the strong race pace, the Woking team must however deal with some issues for this weekend, both in terms of reliability, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli forced to miss the final minutes of free practice due to an engine issue, and in terms of setup, with George Russell repeatedly reporting over the radio to the team that he did not feel comfortable with the car, especially with qualifying in mind.
Good race simulation for Ferrari, with the updates brought this weekend on the SF-26 that seem to be working. The Maranello team therefore puts itself forward as an antagonist to Mercedes ahead of the race: in fact, Charles Leclerc was fairly consistent around the high 1:32s / low 1:33s, while Lewis Hamilton’s long run was overall a few tenths slower, although it is possible to assume that a larger fuel load was put into car #44.
Despite the peak shown in Sprint qualifying, with Lando Norris on pole, McLaren seems to be slightly behind Mercedes and Ferrari in race pace, with both drivers being rather inconsistent between 1:33 and 1:34.
The longest race simulation of the day was carried out by Max Verstappen, who completed as many as 17 laps on the medium tyre. The Dutch driver remained quite consistent up to the final lap in the 1:33s, also appearing rather satisfied with the improvements made to his RB22.
PHOTO: F1.com, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, GPKingdom.
