Why Mercedes' practice pace doesn't harm Red Bull's favourite tag at Miami GP

Two weeks on from George Russell topping FP2 for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Mercedes scored a repeat result as Formula 1’s first running in Miami ended – albeit a day earlier this time around.

But this wasn’t an extra meaningless sprint weekend second practice session. This was a ‘traditional’ FP2 – where qualifying pace and race-run data could be gathered before the cars are locked into parc ferme set-up restrictions - so assessments can therefore be made regarding grand prix form.

The Mercedes W13 led the way, while both Red Bull and Ferrari had different disasters.

In isolation, that means little. But Mercedes has updated its front, rear and beam wings for this weekend’s event in the sweltering south Florida heat. That’s changed the previously much-maligned package that led Lewis Hamilton to say that Mercedes “didn't come out of the starting blocks the way we wanted” in 2022 in the press conference room deep the bowels of the Hard Rock Stadium. For any NFL fans reading this piece, that area is actually the disguised locker room home to whatever team is playing the Miami Dolphins on a given autumn or winter day in the (American) football season.

Back in the F1 world, Mercedes is refusing to get carried away by topping this Friday – which came after Russell had finished second behind Charles Leclerc in FP1 – but its update’s impact on porpoising and drag has been promising. So much so, one team insider said the sensation within the Silver Arrows camp was “starting to feel a bit more normal”.

Its drivers aren’t happy with their car balance feeling, yet, but they are looking fast in a way they have not at the initial rounds of the season. In essence at Mercedes, so far in Miami there is apparently much more of the familiar atmosphere that came when it was romping to eight consecutive constructors’ titles before 2022 began. It’s clearly not fully back, but it’s perhaps now made the first steps of the recovery path.

Mercedes' upgrades appeared to deliver clear performance gains as Russell topped FP2

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Overall FP2 order

The qualifying simulations midway through the most comparable practice session for Sunday’s race in Miami came after the session had been red-flagged for Carlos Sainz’s latest crash, which he put down to a “costly snap” in a car which he is still to fully gel with. That was Ferrari’s disaster.

Red Bull’s was Max Verstappen missed half of FP2 as his car was fitted with a different gearbox in a precautionary change, following the rocketing temperature issues it encountered in FP1, as he only completed one fraught and damaged out/in-lap in FP2.

“We had some comparisons that we have been running throughout the day across the cars and initial results look interesting” Andrew Shovlin

His car had developed a hydraulic issue that meant he “couldn’t really steer” – at one point coming to a near halt in front of Lance Stroll’s fast-approaching Aston Martin, even with full steering lock applied. To cap matters for the world champion, his brakes caught fire as he limped back to the pits.

“We wanted to get out there and learn the track and get fully up to speed but things didn’t go to plan,” Verstappen noted. “We don’t have a huge amount of information and data for my car, which could prove difficult for qualifying and the race.”

A second FP2 red flag was caused by Williams driver Nicholas Latifi stopping without drive part-way down the meandering curved ‘straight’ sequence that leads away from the fake marina part of the Miami track. This meant most teams had their long-run data gathering cut shorter than they would’ve liked.

But between the stoppages, Hamilton surged to the top of the times before he was shuffled back – first by Leclerc and then by Russell. Intriguingly, Leclerc tried to topple Mercedes twice more, but could not improve his personal best on the soft tyres. That left Russell top by a tenth, and the Briton inevitably, and sensibly, played down that achievement.

“The car is running well but it's only Friday, we're not getting carried away,” he said. “It's probably been the most productive Friday we've had this season in terms of learning.”

Ferrari comfortably remains in the fight at the front despite losing data running due to Sainz's crash

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

And this is the key point for Mercedes. It has clearly made several important steps with its redesigned wings (the previous beam wing was adding considerable drag, it should be noted here too), which has brought it closer towards play with 2022’s early pacesetters in red and adorned with Red Bulls.

The new rear wing features a one-off colourful livery tweak that has added weight, but not enough, Autosport understands, to negate the additional savings Mercedes has made since Imola. Much more importantly, the new wing arrangement is drag efficient enough that the W13s could match Ferrari in straightline speed on Friday.

GPS data Autosport has seen suggests Red Bull still retains its end-of-straight advantage over the field, but Mercedes is now close enough to Ferrari to be confident that its 2022 engine is not at a major disadvantage compared to the power units in the back of the Scuderia’s machines.

Red Bull’s top speed will, however, but a warning for Ferrari given its own new low-drag rear wing configuration introduced for this event is designed to get it on terms with its title rival in the power stakes on tracks with many long straights – such as this one…

The radical new front wing endplates Mercedes has deployed is aimed at altering the airflow across the rest of the W13 and its front tyre wake. It appears to have worked as the team hoped, meaning it could play with its rideheights throughout Friday practice to run ever lower to the ground before the porpoising issue – which is not cured, it should be stressed – became too problematic for optimum lap time.

All this meant that while Friday in Miami might’ve felt familiar in terms of ending with positive results on the timesheets and within the computers possessed by Mercedes’ engineering team, it was actually an atypical day of running as the team worked to understand its updates with altered run plans. Mercedes also tried various set-ups across its two cars, with the best arrangement to be decided ahead of FP3 and set to be applied to both cars.

“We had some comparisons that we have been running throughout the day across the cars and initial results look interesting,” said Mercedes’ director of trackside engineering, Andrew Shovlin. “We'll do a bit more analysis before deciding what we carry into [FP3 and qualifying]. There's plenty for us to improve with the car balance.”

Hot conditions are also aiding Mercedes given its tyre warm-up struggles from recent races

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

The gap between Hamilton and Russell in the overall best times in FP2, which stood at 0.241s, apparently came down to the elder Briton not having his tyres in the best temperature window for his soft-tyre qualifying simulation after the Sainz red flag.

Autosport understands Hamilton later gained 0.3s in the first sector of his subsequent in-lap with his engine turned down, such was the time to be found with tyres ready from the off for a flier. Mercedes also thinks Russell could’ve gone quicker on his best FP2 lap, were it not for near-miss against the inside wall for Turn 13, which put him slightly out of shape through the subsequent tight chicane at the end of sector two.

Mercedes is also pleased with its comparison to Red Bull and Ferrari in the corners around Miami. The W13s were clocked gaining time through the first corner and the early part of the lap before losing slightly in the rest of the first sector. That said, the team feels it is competitive in the tricky double left around the ‘marina’ – Turns 7 and 8 between which Valtteri Bottas crashed his Alfa Romeo in FP2 – and the technical corners uphill through the chicane.

In the battle between Red Bull and Ferrari, everything looks very close once again so far ahead of a race that Pirelli estimates is going to be a near dead heat between one stop and two

Medium tyre averages

What long run data was gathered at the end of FP2 isn’t anywhere near as good looking for Mercedes. On heavier fuel – the usual practice caveats for this and engine modes inevitably should be noted – the W13s seemed to be porpoising more. This is a feature that Ferrari has found so far in 2022, although rarely, it seems, to its cost.

But Russell’s stint on the medium tyres (above) comes in only 0.367s slower per lap compared to Sergio Perez’s best for Red Bull, which is a big gain considering at the early rounds Mercedes was regularly clocked at around a second off the long-run pace.

Red Bull remains on top on the truncated long runs

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

In the battle between Red Bull and Ferrari, everything looks very close once again so far, ahead of a race that Pirelli estimates is going to be a near dead heat between one stop and two. The difference is thought likely to come down to which team can keep its rubber in best shape in the hot temperatures should the race stay dry throughout. Dramatic thunderstorms are a big possibility at this time of year, in this part of the country, although definitely not localised entirely within the confines of the Hard Rock Stadium’s vast car park grounds, upon which the event has been so magnificently constructed.

Tyre degradation settled both the Melbourne and Imola events (in the latter this was mainly seen in the all-dry sprint race), but there it was graining in cooler conditions that made the difference. Here, avoiding thermal degradation is likely to be key and the teams are going to have to rely on the hot daytime running conducted in Bahrain testing as an important reference when it comes to making the big set-up choices before qualifying.

And tyres are a key reason why Mercedes was looking so good yesterday. In the heat and on a new, coarse track surface, the team is having no trouble firing up its rubber – as it did so badly and so much to its cost at Imola. It can still go wrong, as Hamilton found on his FP2 qualifying simulation, but overall it is much better here.

“We always knew that the warm conditions here in Miami would suit our car better,” said Russell. “We've suffered with getting temperature in the tyres at previous races so that's a big factor here.”

The tyre factor is flattering Mercedes, but it can’t be denied that the team has taken a significant step with its updates. However, there’s a key reason why Red Bull in particular must remain the favourite for the rest of the weekend based on how things appear ahead of FP3.

Verstappen's pace is still unknown after his FP2 woes but he is expected to feature at the front

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

For a start, there’s its remaining top speed advantage at a track where 58% of the lap is spent at full throttle. But the biggest factor is Verstappen’s absence from the action in FP2 given he typically has a chunk in hand over Perez – both on single lap pace and over a stint.

The tyre factor is flattering Mercedes, but it can’t be denied that the team has taken a significant step with its updates

That should worry Ferrari in particular, while the low-grip off-line concerns the drivers are reporting should worry everyone hoping for an overtaking-fest on Sunday.

But Mercedes, even if it hasn’t unlocked so much potential in the W13 that it can be dreaming of an unlikely win this weekend, should be very encouraged from what it has delivered so far at F1’s latest glittering new race.

Mercedes ends the first day in Miami on top but faces a tough ask to stay there

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images