F1MATHS: What does the boxplot tell about teams' high-fuel performance in Miami?
Originally published by F1Technical
On the back of Mercedes' dominant showing in the early races of the 2026 F1 season, McLaren used its heavily-upgraded MCL40 to dominate the 19-lap Miami F1 Sprint. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo delivers his latest analysis.
McLaren’s supremacy in the 2026 Miami Sprint is written into every layer of the boxplot: from the absolute fastest mean lap time of 92.28 seconds for Lando Norris to Oscar Piastri’s 92.44 seconds, the team’s orange blocks sit consistently lower than anyone else’s. Their combined average places McLaren atop of the teams' ranking, the clear reference point for the field.
Ferrari emerge as the closest challengers, though still 0.24 seconds adrift on average. Charles Leclerc’s mean of 92.52 seconds anchors their effort, while Lewis Hamilton sits further back at 93.25 seconds, a spread that visually widens Ferrari’s boxplots compared to McLaren’s tightly clustered distributions. Even so, Ferrari remain the only team within a quarter of a second of the benchmark.
Mercedes follow at +0.35 seconds, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s 92.63‑second mean placing him third overall, 0.11 seconds behind Leclerc. George Russell’s 92.82 seconds is almost two tenths slower than his teammate.
The boxplots reflect this: Antonelli’s distribution is narrow and low, while Russell and Hamilton show wider spreads and more outliers, explaining why Mercedes sit closer to Ferrari than to McLaren. Russell appeared to be quick in the starting phase of the 19-lap sprint and he even mounted multiple attacks on his Italian team-mate, but he suffered higher tyre degradation on the hot Miami track surface.
Red Bull’s decline is stark in numerical form. Max Verstappen’s 92.80 seconds keeps him in the leading group, but Isack Hadjar’s 93.80 seconds drags the team average to +0.52 seconds, placing them fourth. Verstappen’s boxplot remains competitive, but the Frenchman's sits more than a full second slower, with a visibly taller box and longer whiskers.
The midfield gap is enormous. Alpine at +1.39 seconds rely on Pierre Gasly’s 93.68 seconds and Franco Colapinto’s 94.00 seconds, both consistent but fundamentally off the leading pace.
Williams, running their upgraded package, sit at +2.14 seconds, with Alex Albon’s 94.42 seconds and Carlos Sainz’ 94.98 seconds forming one of the tightest teammate pairings in the field.
Audi at +2.30 seconds show a similar pattern: Gabriel Bortoleto produced a mean lap time of 94.59s while his team-mate Nico Hülkenberg was unable to start the race due to technical issues.
RB sit at +2.79 seconds, with Liam Lawson having produced a mean lap time of 95.07 seconds. His team-mate Arvid Lindblad was - like Hulkenberg - unable to start the 19-lap Miami Sprint due to technical problems.
Despite positive notes from the Spaniard, Aston Martin’s struggles are unmistakable: Fernando Alonso’s 95.83 seconds and Lance Stroll’s 95.595 seconds place the team at +3.55 seconds, their boxplots hovering near the top of the chart.
Finally, Cadillac close the field at +3.72 seconds, with Valtteri Bottas at 96.65 seconds and Sergio Perez at 96.01 seconds. Their distributions are not wide, with a relatively low number of outliers, but the American team simply continued to suffer a lack of pace despite their improved qualifying one-lap pace.