Worrying analysis with Mercedes ‘probably the slowest team on the straights’ in Miami

Uros Radovanovic
Lewis Hamilton laps the Miami circuit in the Mercedes W1

Lewis Hamilton laps the Miami circuit in the Mercedes W15

Following the exciting Sprint Qualifying session on Friday, we can already highlight some positive as well as negative surprises in Miami.

Let’s take a look at what the telemetry data says, who has made the most progress and who has regressed compared to the previous weekend? Can we expect anyone to challenge Red Bull here?

McLaren impress with Miami upgrades

Two main surprises after the Sprint Qualifying session in Miami were undoubtedly McLaren and Mercedes, one in a positive light while the other not so much.

McLaren arrived in Miami with an upgraded car, which could be seen even before the first practice session. Lando Norris’ car has undergone changes to the sidepod inlets as well as the sidepod and undercut geometry.

Although McLaren didn’t secure good positions in Friday’s qualifying, the data tells a different story that will surely please all fans of this team.

Best sector drivers Miami

From the image above, we can see the best sectors of each driver during the sprint qualifying session. Surprisingly, Norris, who finished P9, was the fastest in the second and third sectors, while the lag behind Max Verstappen in the first was only +0.076s.

This tells us that McLaren’s new upgrades have brought additional stability and downforce to their car, maintaining excellent maximum speed on the straights.

Fastest lap telemetry Miami

Above, we can see a comparison of the fastest laps of Verstappen and Norris during the sprint qualifying session. It’s clear how Norris maintains higher speed through slow corners at the end of S2 and has a better exit onto the long straight after Turn 16.

Norris was probably the closest to Verstappen in terms of performance during Friday’s session than any other driver this season.

Ideal lap time SQ Miami

The only thing that prevented him from setting the fastest time was himself. During SQ3, drivers had only one attempt to set the fastest time, and Norris was already +0.7s behind pole after the first sector. Too many mistakes cost him the chance to fight for his first win in Formula 1 in the Sprint race.

However, what is certainly encouraging is McLaren’s significantly improved performance, which will surely be faster throughout the rest of the weekend.

Are Mercedes in increasing trouble?

On the other hand, we have another British team that currently doesn’t look like the team that has dominated this competition for years.

Both drivers failed to qualify for the SQ3 part of qualifying, being slower than even Nico Hulkenberg in Haas and Daniel Ricciardo in RB.

During the analysis of the aero package, we discussed Mercedes’ very peculiar move with their high-loaded rear wing, which differed significantly from other teams. The expectation that this high-drag rear wing would cost them maximum speed on the straights turned out to be correct.

The drivers’ maximum speeds during their fastest laps only confirm this theory. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are at the bottom of the table, showing that Mercedes are probably the slowest team on the straights.

Fastest lap top speed Miami

We already know that the Silver Arrows are struggling with the stability of the rear of the car as well as maximum speeds, so engineers tried to address at least one of those two issues.

The end result was very poor; Hamilton was only competitive in the first sector – the only one without long straights. In other parts of the track, unfortunately, they seemed closer to Alpine than Red Bull in terms of performance.

It should be noted that Mercedes arrived in Miami with a significantly upgraded floor of the car, but it seems that these upgrades haven’t helped them much.

Among other surprises, Ricciardo, who will start the sprint race from the second row, is certainly worth mentioning. The RB team looks better and more competitive with each subsequent race.

Ricciardo will have a tough task keeping Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri behind him, but it will certainly be interesting to see that battle for points.

Read next: Miami GP Sprint Qualy data: McLaren ‘hand’ Sprint pole to Max Verstappen as Mercedes sinks close to Alpine