Red Bull’s rival make upgrade push: Five Miami Grand Prix talking points.
Formula 1 will make its first of three visits to the United States this weekend for the third Miami Grand Prix.
14:02 Mon, 29 Apr 2024.
Will Wood
RaceFans

Miami upgrades for McLaren and Mercedes: Mercedes technical director James Allison has expressed his hope that the new parts for this weekend could give them the marginal gains that will earn them additional places on the grid with an extremely close field in qualifying. At McLaren, team principal Andrea Stella said his team’s package will target an improvement in tyre degradation…

New sponsor, new look: Unlike their rivals in McLaren and Mercedes, Ferrari will run a largely unchanged car from the one they raced in Shanghai. However, the Scuderia will be sporting a very different look in Miami this weekend following the announcement of the team’s first official title sponsor since 2021.

Sargeant’s final home GP? With rumours swirling about Mercedes’ potential interest in filling Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 seat with F2 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli… …If that comes to pass, Sargeant would be out of his seat before the next round in America – the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in October.

‘Setting up for the sprint race, Advent of Andretti’;

https://www.racefans.net/2024/04/29/...alking-points/


Leclerc urges Ferrari to keep up in 'game changing' F1 race
Charles Leclerc has said he does not know what to expect from the upcoming Miami Grand Prix as rivals may bring upgrades, whilst cautioning the need for Ferrari to keep up in the development race.
30 April 2024, 8:45AM
Samuel Coop & Aaron Deckers
RacingNews365

Charles Leclerc believes upgrades will be "super important" to how the rest of the F1 season unfolds, whilst suggesting that Ferrari's form at the Miami Grand Prix will be somewhat dependant on its rivals. Whilst the five-time race winner expects performance in the Sunshine State to be broadly similar, he did concede that it will ultimately come down to upgrades there.

"[Between now and Miami], we'll be working, obviously, on trying to understand what was going on the hard [tyres], to try and fix that and hopefully don't have that again sometime in the season, the 26-year-old told media including RacingNews365, before adding: "But I don't know. It also depends on whoever is bringing upgrades there [in Miami]. We probably won't, we'll have to wait a bit longer."

The Monegasque driver went on to caution against falling behind in the F1 development race, something he believes will be key to how the season unfolds, despite him not expecting Ferrari to improve the car between China and Miami. "I think that [upgrades]is going to be the game changer for the rest of the season - the upgrades are going to be super important to see how the season will develop after that," he said.

‘Keep up in 'game changing' F1 race’;

https://racingnews365.com/leclerc-ma...anging-f1-race


Mercedes to launch ‘ambitious’ F1 sprint plan with Miami GP upgrades confirmed
29 Apr 2024 7:30 AM
Thomas Maher
PlanetF1.com

Having gone the wrong direction with set-up in China, Mercedes will be going all guns blazing into the Miami Sprint. Having qualified and raced to second place in the Chinese GP Sprint, Lewis Hamilton found himself down in 18th place in qualifying before racing to ninth.

This was after Mercedes opted to go in a different set-up direction following the Sprint, targeting more performance, only for the move to backfire as the car’s performance took a blow. “Every weekend you go to, you learn things,” Allison said in the team’s debrief of the China weekend.

“It’s one of the truisms of F1, it is a learning race and although you have a factory full of tools, you have a load of computational power, a load of people who are thinking about it, there is no place to learn about the car better than with the car at the track doing what it’s designed to do.”

‘Mercedes to launch ‘ambitious’ F1 sprint plan’;

https://www.planetf1.com/news/merced...x-w15-upgrades


Mekies promises Miami upgrade to keep RB 'surfing on top'
28/04/2024 at 15:37
Andrew Lewin
F1i.com

Visa Cash App RB team principal Laurent Mekies has promised that the squad will be rolling out new upgrades for the next Grand Prix in Miami to keep them ahead of their midfield rivals.

"We'll have an update in Miami to help us try to keep surfing on the top of that very edge," he told Motorsport.com last week. "I'm sure our competitors will bring updates as well. There is nothing guaranteed in this group," he continued, "and only if you nail the weekend will you get to that P10."

"We've never been confident that we have the quickest car of the five [teams at the back]," he acknowledged. "We got it there by half a tenth in Australia, half a tenth in Japan and we missed it by a 10th and a half in China.

'Surfing on top';

https://f1i.com/news/506475-mekies-p...ng-on-top.html


Red Bull fear Max Verstappen streak will end at Miami GP as concern raised
Max Verstappen and Red Bull have dominated the F1 season so far, but team adviser Helmut Marko says the defending champions are worried about the Miami Grand Prix
13:49 Wed, 24 Apr 2024.
By Daniel Moxon Senior F1 Writer
The Mirror

Helmut Marko thinks Max Verstappen may struggle to extend his streak of pole positions at the Miami Grand Prix. In his Speedweek column, the Austrian wrote: "Five GP weekends, five different race tracks, five pole positions for Max Verstappen, four victories. At this point, we can reasonably say that we have a car that is fast on any type of track.”

"We have to point out that the tyre wear in Melbourne was unusually high for Red Bull conditions. When it comes to [Sergio] Perez's car, we don't know exactly whether the damage to his car contributed to this. But the findings from the long runs also indicate that there is too much wear.”

"So that means: Fast, yes, but the road surface and route can make differences." And Marko thinks that could affect Verstappen's chances when it comes to qualifying in Miami next time out. He continued: "Racetracks where the opponents could get a little closer to us are Miami or Monaco, especially since the competition has gotten closer, especially in the qualifying trim. I can imagine that it won't be easy to be in pole position there."

‘Red Bull fear Max Verstappen streak will end’;

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formu...-bull-32661200


Why Ferrari will ditch all-red Formula One car for wild new look at Miami Grand Prix
Ferrari will celebrate a landmark anniversary of their arrival in the North American marketplace in style, sporting a different look at the Miami Grand Prix on May 5 with two tones of blue
03:38 Fri, 26 Apr 2024.
BY KASRA MORADISPORTS REPORTER
DANIEL MOXONSENIOR F1 WRITER
Daily Star

The Italian team’s cars are synonymous with the colour red thanks to the success of Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda and other F1 legends to have raced for the Prancing Horse. But current drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will race in new-look Ferraris when they arrive in Florida for the Miami Grand Prix.

The SF-24 will sport two different shades of blue - the first being a lighter hue similar to that used on the Argentina national flag. That is in tribute to Alberto Ascari, who donned blue on his helmet and race suit when he became Ferrari's first F1 champion in the 1950s.

The eye-catching change is part of Ferrari's celebration of its historic breakthrough into the American marketplace. The Italians raced in white and blue cars for the final two races of the 1964 season to commemorate a significant moment in the brand's history, according to the Mirror.

‘Ferrari will celebrate a landmark anniversary’;

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/f1...miami-32670153