Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur believes the SF-24 will perform better at the Miami circuit than it did in Shanghai two weeks ago.
The team, who up until the Chinese Grand Prix had been Red Bull’s closest challenger, struggled to keep up with the McLaren of Lando Norris on race day and didn’t make the podium for the first time this season – coming home fourth and fifth.
Vasseur’s Optimism for Miami
Vasseur put that partly down to the squad not getting the most out of the car on the first sprint weekend of the season, and while Miami plays host to the format once again, the Frenchman doesn’t expect it to be as big of an issue as the teams all have track data from the past two years, which wasn’t the case in Shanghai.
“Once again, we are dealing with a sprint format that saw us struggle in China,” said Vasseur.
“But this is a very different type of circuit and one where we can count on the data we have acquired over the past two seasons”.
“We expect to do better than in Shanghai and I believe we have the potential do so, especially as it is so close behind the championship leader.”
Despite Ferrari making a massive step over the winter in terms of overall pace and tyre management in races, the SF-24 has tended to struggle in qualifying trim, something that Vasseur has said the team must get right given how close the grid is behind Red Bull:
“Once again, it will be important to make the most of the only free practice session, especially to work on qualifying, where recently we have struggled more than we should have done”.
“This is a special weekend for the company and the team as it marks the debut for our new title partner, HP.”
“We will all be doing our very best to get this collaboration off to the best possible start.”