Race 6 - 2025 Miami Grand Prix [Miami International Autodrome]

[Nitrodaze]

Ferrari simply made a clown show out of making the wrong decision.

Hamilton never had pace over Leclerc, he could simply stay with him due to DRS. Leclerc still had more pace in dirty air, so now both drivers tires are taking abuse. The only real shot they had at catching Kimi was to never swap the first time.

Martin Brundle made a very interesting observation about this. He pointed out that Hamilton was able to catch Leclerc with faster medium tires while they were still fresh. Because they took three to five laps to decide if they should swap, the mediums were mostly spent by the time they finally swapped them. After they swapped them, Leclerc benefited from being towed along in the slipstream of Hamilton's Ferrari ahead. Much like how Sainz towed Albon to keep both Williams in the top ten and ahead of the Haas of Ocon in the previous race.

There were two qualms that Hamilton voiced during the race; firstly was that they took too long to execute the swap instruction. Secondly, that he voluntarily swapped in China when he realised that Leclerc was faster than him and expected a return of that favour.

So one observation is that Ferrari needs to be smarter to act promptly in the best interest of the team. The Ferrari strategy team should be considering the best outcome for Ferrari before considering anything else. Secondly, Leclerc was not being a team player on this occasion. He was only thinking about himself and not the team. If he were, he would have facilitated the swap and let Hamilton tow him along to Antonelli, which may have given both Ferrari a chance to sneak past Antonelli to produce a better result for the team. Clearly, Hamilton on mediums was considerably faster than Antonelli on old Hards.

One of LeClerc's weak points is that he is not capable of seeing the bigger picture during race conditions. This was one of those things that put Sainz above him when it came to in-race intelligence. Most noticeable in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, where Sainz in red was always able to outthink LeClerc to finish ahead even when he starts the race behind him.

What we saw was ugly from all concerned? And Vasseur did not have a handle on the situation for some reason.

Ferrari's problems seem set to deepen as they are failing to work as a cohesive team. Lacking team synergy while having a troublesome car is a recipe for disappointment come the end of the season. I personally, think the team needs a refresh. Time to swap out some of the old faces and bring in some fresher younger ones.