Vasseur reveals limitations that hindered Hamilton and Leclerc at the Miami Grand Prix
Originally published by F1Technical
Ferrari’s Miami Grand Prix delivered a difficult and uneven Sunday for both sides of the garage, with Lewis Hamilton’s race compromised from the opening seconds and Charles Leclerc’s podium challenge unravelling through strategy setbacks, traffic, a late spin and a post‑race penalty that dropped him to eighth.
Hamilton’s afternoon was shaped immediately at the start, when he made contact with Franco Colapinto in an incident the stewards later classified as a racing incident. The impact left Hamilton with car damage and reduced downforce, forcing him into a defensive, damage‑limiting drive rather than a fight with the front‑running group.
Team Principal Fred Vasseur summarised the situation bluntly: “With Lewis, the race was largely about managing the damage from lap one, which meant dealing with overheating and doing a lot of lift and coast just to bring the car to the finish.”
Despite the limitations, Hamilton kept the car in contention for points and ultimately finished sixth, the maximum Ferrari believed was achievable given the compromised condition of the SF‑26.
Leclerc leads early but strategy and traffic derail his raceWhile Hamilton was battling damage, Leclerc was very much in the fight at the front. He was the only one of the top three to take Turn 1 cleanly on the opening lap, emerging in the lead as chaos unfolded behind him. But the race soon shifted away from him.
Leclerc lost out to Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris in the early laps, and Ferrari opted to pit him earlier than both to cover off a potential George Russell undercut. That decision dropped him into traffic, costing him rhythm and pace — a turning point that left the Monegasque frustrated and forced him into recovery mode.
Vasseur acknowledged the contrast between Leclerc’s early pace and the difficulties that followed: “On Charles’ side, the pace was strong in clean air and we were fighting at the front, but once we dropped into traffic it became more difficult and consistency was the main issue.
"There was a big performance delta between the part when Charles was leading and the later part of the race. It is something we need to look into, because it was a similar picture in yesterday’s Sprint.”
Even so, Leclerc fought back impressively, overtaking Russell and then Verstappen. But on worn tyres and pushing to secure a top‑four finish, he spun late in the race, clipped the barriers and damaged the car. Limping to the line, he lost positions to Russell and Verstappen in the final corners.
He finished sixth on the road, but the stewards later handed him a post‑race time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while nursing the damaged Ferrari, dropping him to eighth.
Despite the setbacks, Vasseur stressed that Ferrari leave Miami with clear areas for improvement and some encouraging signs: Overall, it was a challenging Sunday on both sides of the garage.”
“However, there are some positives to take from the weekend: the starts were good and the upgrades worked as expected. We know where we need to improve – consistency, managing traffic and extracting the full potential of the package.”