In Miami, Mercedes made a more competitive impression than on previous race weekends. But racing boss Toto Wolff is dampening fans’ expectations, comparing the W13 racer to a kangaroo.
Young George Russell eliminated in second qualifying segment, Lewis Hamilton starting 6th – what is this Mercedes-Benz performance worth at the Miami International Autodrome? Are the engineers slowly getting the handling of the difficult 2022 Mercedes racer under control?
“Not at all,” says Austrian race director Toto Wolff in response to this question in South Florida. “We set the best time with George Russell in the second free practice session and that speed was real. George’s performance and Hamilton’s 4th showed what’s possible with this car when we put it in the best working window.”
“But then we experimented a little, and in the third free practice session it became apparent that we had slipped out of this working window again.” Then the Silver Arrows appeared on ranks 15 (Hamilton) and 17 (Russell).
The Viennese continued: “We improved a little towards qualifying, but the car still jumps like a kangaroo, the drivers are not satisfied at all, and everyone can see why we are losing time.”
“Which is good – we’re getting a better understanding of what’s going on with the car. We had a good car on Friday, then we made it worse, some of it we understand, others not.”
The goal for the Miami GP according to Wolff: “To be the best of the rest, ideally we’ll finish behind the Ferrari and Red Bull Racing cars.”
Qualification, Miami
01. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, 1:28,796 min
02. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, 1:28.986
03. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:28,991
04. Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, 1:29.036
05. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Alfa Romeo, 1: 29,475
06. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, 1:29,625
07. Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, 1:29,690
08. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, 1: 29,750
09. Yuki Tsunoda (J), AlphaTauri, 1: 29, 932
10. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, 1:30,676
11. Fernando Alonso (E), Alpine, 1: 30,160
12. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, 1:30,173
13. Sebastian Vettel (D), Aston Martin, 1:30,214
14. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), McLaren, 1:30.310
15. Mick Schumacher (D), Haas, 1:30,423
16. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, 1: 30,975
17. Guanyu Zhou (RC), Alfa Romeo, 1:31,020
18. Alexander Albon (T), Williams, 1:31,266
19. Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, 1:31,325
20. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, without time