What exactly is wrong with Ferrari? - Jonathan

After the Miami Grand Prix, the issues at the press conference of Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur focused on the team's order debate between the team and drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

Vasseur was a little frustrated by this and ended up saying, “It’s not a story for a day,” noting that the only difference that ended up was which driver finished seventh and eighth.

“I’m more eager to talk about why we’re one minute behind McLaren,” he said.

Vasseur claims that in the race the car was speeding at Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Red Bull, but Ferrari paid the price for their poor grid position. He admits that McLaren is “on another planet.”

Charles Leclerc qualified eighth and Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari's worst qualifying result of the season, in large part because of their efforts to get their best from new tires.

That's why Hamilton and Leclerc used used tires in the second-squad. As Vasseur said: "Everyone improved by 0.5-0.6 seconds between scrubbing to the new scrub, and we lost by 0.2-0.3 seconds."

When asked why Ferrari struggled with tires in Miami, he said: "It's a great question. If I knew the answer, I'll take a step forward and we'll fix it between the second and third quarters.

"You always have to operate the tire in a very narrow window. It's different from track to track, the temperature from track to track to track. And, after the conversation, you say, 'OK, I can do different things.'"

But it's just Miami. The broader question is that after McLaren was so close to McLaren last year, the car wasn't where Ferrari expected to start the season.

Other teams (especially McLaren) have made even greater progress throughout the winter, and Ferrari just needs to build the car faster.

On average, it was the slowest of the top four teams, and Ferrari received only one Grand Prix podium, thanks to Saudi Arabia's Leclerc.

Hamilton won the sprint from China, but it seems that he and the team found a good setup after one practice, while others didn't, and then benefited from the clean air at the start of the game.

As Leclerc said, "Lewis did a great job. Maybe some riders didn't put everything in Sprint qualifying, he managed to do it and managed to beat the car.

"Then the tire deteriorates is a big deal, and when you start from the front, everything goes a step further. Lewis makes a difference on Friday and Saturday."

In the next two games between Imora and Monaco, Vasseur called it "some small upgrades." Vasseur hopes that stricter rules for front wing deflection introduced in the Spanish competition will make a difference.

"Everyone will have a new front wing in Barcelona," he said. "By the definition and regulations. I think it might be a reset of everyone's performance."

This means McLaren is benefiting from exploiting this phenomenon. McLaren himself said they expected it to make no difference to them.

After a tough start, Ferrari has made progress in upgrading in both 2023 and 2024. Vasseur is still confident that he can do the same this year.

"I'm optimistic about the future. I think this car does have performance. There are some things that have made us back at the moment. We've lost performance since China. There, we can't use it. Until we get the solution, that's where we are."