Miami is hosting the second Sprint event of the Formula 1 season this weekend. The first Sprint, held six weeks prior in China, had initially offered a glimmer of hope for both Lewis Hamilton`s career with Ferrari and the team`s prospects for the year.
Although not a full Grand Prix, the seven-time champion`s pole position and subsequent impressive win in the 19-lap race at the Shanghai International Circuit seemed significant at the time. It occurred early in his second race weekend with the team, following a challenging debut in Australia.
However, Ferrari hasn`t replicated this performance in the five full-length races held so far this season. Hamilton, in particular, has faced pronounced difficulties with the SF-25 car. Charles Leclerc`s recent third-place finish in Saudi Arabia, securing their first Grand Prix podium of the year, did provide a more promising sign.
A key challenge for Ferrari, who had already introduced significant upgrades by the fourth round in Bahrain, is that the further they fall behind, the less justifiable it becomes to allocate resources to what is rapidly becoming a disappointing campaign. This is especially true with radical new regulations set to be introduced for the 2026 season.
A weekend break preceding the Miami Grand Prix offers the team an opportunity to regroup. The European leg of the season then kicks off a demanding sequence of six races within eight weeks, leading up to the season`s halfway point.
The Miami International Autodrome hosts the sixth round, immediately plunging teams into competitive action with Sprint Qualifying on Friday night. Ferrari is in desperate need of a breakthrough performance.
Ferrari Still Lacking Pace, But Was Saudi Hopeful?
Ferrari arrives in Miami sitting fourth in the Constructors` Championship. While they have slightly closed the gap to third-placed Red Bull and second-placed Mercedes after outscoring them marginally in the last two Middle Eastern races, they remain behind.
The 18 points lost due to their disqualification from the Chinese GP would have actually placed them seven points ahead of Red Bull, for whom Max Verstappen has scored almost all their points.
However, the more significant concern for the Scuderia is the massive 110-point deficit to McLaren. Ferrari had aspirations of challenging McLaren this season, having finished just 14 points behind them at the end of the previous year after McLaren`s late surge.
While there has been much speculation regarding the reasons for Ferrari`s early lack of pace, team boss Frederic Vasseur maintained after Leclerc`s Jeddah podium that the car still possesses the “potential” to compete with the frontrunners.
“The most critical for us is the difference between qualifying pace and race pace,” Vasseur commented after the Saudi race. “I think the race… the second stint was very strong. I think we were faster than [Oscar] Piastri and Verstappen in the last 35 or 40 laps of the race.”
“We have to put our focus on this to be much more consistent all over the weekend, but I think we can take [Saudi Arabia] as a positive because we just stepped forward at least in the race pace. It was very strong and I think that the potential is there, but we just have to do a better job all over again,” he added.
What About Hamilton?
As the seven-time world champion himself admitted, Leclerc`s result was the sole positive he could take from the Jeddah weekend, given the difficulties he experienced driving the SF-25 on the fast street circuit.
Having qualified over half a second slower than his teammate, Hamilton finished four places and a significant 31 seconds behind Leclerc in the 50-lap race.
Afterward, he described the race as “horrible” and “not enjoyable at all,” confessing he had “no answers” to explain his personal struggles.
“At the moment, there’s no fix,” he suggested, adding, “So this is how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. It’s going to be painful.” While this downbeat assessment on his prospects for the remaining 19 rounds might have been influenced by immediate post-race disappointment, his Saudi performance clearly shows he is far from comfortable with the car.
“The worry for me is that [the China Sprint] is now becoming the outlier,” said Sky Sports F1`s Karun Chandhok on The F1 Show. “Since the Sunday of China where Leclerc got ahead of him in the race, despite having a broken front wing, Leclerc was quicker. The trend is the worry for me.”
“In Australia, Lewis was 0.16 off Charles, in Japan it became 0.30, In Bahrain it became 0.59, Saudi it became 0.60,” Chandhok noted, highlighting that the gap to his teammate is widening instead of closing as he gets more accustomed to the team. “In Saudi, he just looked so deflated. Looking at the data, that as a driver, psychologically, is like ‘where do I begin?’.”
However, despite this growing gap, Vasseur insisted: “Honestly, I am not too worried. If you have a look on what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain, or even on the first part of the session in this weekend, the potential is there for sure.”
Vasseur elaborated, “We just have to adjust the balance because we are, collectively, Lewis and us, we are struggling with the balance of his car and [how] he is working the tyres. It’s a kind of negative spot, but I think the potential of the car is there and we will try to solve that.”
Did Leclerc Offer Clues About the Disparity?
Charles Leclerc`s superior qualifying pace compared to Hamilton is not entirely surprising. Leclerc has a strong reputation over one lap, and Hamilton was notably outperformed in qualifying by George Russell at Mercedes last season.
However, Hamilton was frequently able to turn the tables on Russell in the races last year. This season, he currently trails Leclerc 4-0 in terms of Grand Prix finishing positions.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1`s Martin Brundle before the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Leclerc explained that he felt he was making progress understanding the car`s handling characteristics, a statement he backed up by finishing third in the race.
“At the beginning of the year, I remember it was a very open balance, so very tricky in corner entry, quite a bit of mid-corner understeer. We are starting to find solutions to resolve the mid-corner understeer,” Leclerc explained.
“It means that we’ve got to drive with a trickier car but this is something that I particularly like,” he continued. “I think in terms of balance, we are pretty much in the sweet spot of the car. What we are missing for now is just grip in low and medium speed. High speed, we are not too bad.”
The “trickier car” nature that Leclerc claims he “particularly likes” is clearly not suiting Hamilton`s driving style. If this specific setup is required to extract enough pace from the SF-25 to be competitive, it could indeed prove to be a very long and challenging campaign for the Briton.
Analyzing the situation after the Jeddah race, Martin Brundle suggested that Hamilton needs his own breakthrough, particularly regarding his car setup, if he is to close the gap to Leclerc.
“I struggle to buy into that Lewis doesn’t understand the car. It’s a new car but we are knocking on the door of May,” Brundle said. “I just think Lewis hasn’t gelled with this car. I don’t think he’s going the right way on set-up. Things I’ve heard from Mercedes are Lewis likes the car in a certain way. It’s difficult days.”
Brundle concluded, “We know Lewis is better and faster than this. Something is not working, something is not gelling.”
Wesley Dunham 
Gilbert Pendleton