Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur expects his team to perform “better” at this weekend's Miami Grand Prix than they did recently in China, where the Maranello-based team has struggled with the sprint discipline.
This weekend at the Miami International Autodrome marks the second consecutive drag racing event of the season and the first time Miami has hosted a drag race.
It adds an unknown element to the premier North American race of the 2024 campaign, although Vasseur explains that unlike Shanghai almost two weeks ago, each side has data from the past two seasons.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc both struggled in China with the new race system that has resulted in McLaren being Red Bull's closest rival, although Ferrari does not expect a repeat of that.
“Once again, we are dealing with a Sprint format that has made us struggle a little bit in China,” Vasseur said.
“But this is a very different type of track where we can rely on the data we have obtained over the last two seasons.
He added: “We expect to perform better than in Shanghai, and I believe we have the ability to do that, especially since it is so close to the championship leader.”
“Special weekend”
As always even before the introduction of the modified sprint format, a sprint weekend features only one training session.
This results in one of the most intense practice sessions of the year, with each team having just 60 minutes to put their car in the correct window to qualify for the sprint and sprint races.
Ferrari is targeting a strong weekend to celebrate the start of its collaboration with HP, the new Italian title partner.
“Once again, it will be important to make the most of the single free practice session, especially to work on qualifying, where we have suffered more recently than we should have,” the Frenchman admitted.
“It is a special weekend for the company and the team as it marks the debut of our new partner, HP.
“We will all do our best to get this cooperation off to the best possible start.”
