Mercedes engine hegemony in Miami, but not just for the track

The Mercedes power units dictated the law in Miami, pushing seven cars into the points. The Hard Rock Stadium track rewarded the power of the Brixworth units, also enhanced by the changes to the technical regulations. However, credit also goes to the customer teams, above all Williams, capable of producing effective updates and improving energy management strategies, shortening the delay from the official team. The track factor and the new rules Already during the ground effect era, the Miami circuit was the one with the highest sensitivity to aerodynamic drag, a fact that underlines the importance of top speeds on the long straights around the Hard Rock Stadium. Power at high rpm is particularly important on the Florida track, as also emerges from the notes issued by the Federation on the eve of the race. In Miami, the FIA ​​estimated a total distance of the power limited zones, those to be tackled with the throttle wide open, equal to 62% of the length of the lap. The value is higher than Suzuka’s 60% and Shanghai’s 57%, placing it behind only Melbourne’s 67% among the circuits visited so far, rewarding the more powerful engines. Those provided by the Federation are only references for the areas that in theory can be tackled with full throttle, but where pilots sometimes resort to lift and coast to recharge the battery. However, this practice has reduced with changes to the regulation. The combustion engine now covers a large part of the charging work, remaining at high rpm for longer and highlighting the power differences between engine engineers even more. To this we must add the restriction to 250 kW of electric power in the race in the sections with closed wings, which, combined with the limitation of the Boost, gave further importance to the thermal part. The work of the teams The excellent results of the Mercedes-powered teams in Miami are also the result of the work of the individual teams. McLaren was already part of the leading group and with the first package of updates they moved even closer to the Silver Arrows. Alpine brought some innovations, without intervening on the most important areas such as the bottom, diffuser and bodywork, but already in the first three races the A526 had demonstrated that it was born well. Above all, those who made a leap forward were Williams, equipped with important updates and relieved of some of the excess weight. The same cannot be said of the competition, starting with Haas, orphan of significant developments in Miami. Some changes were seen on the Racing Bulls, but the Italian team’s weekend was particularly troubled, like that of Audi, held back by technical problems. Furthermore, the development of the customer teams was not simply aerodynamic in nature. The Mercedes drivers had the opportunity to learn more about the Brixworth power unit, study its sensitivities and understand how to make it work to optimize energy management. “Regarding the work carried out together with the Mercedes engine engineers and the development of the simulation tools, I can confirm that we have made a significant leap forward compared to where we were in Australia”, the words of the McLaren Team Principal, Andrea Stella, on the eve. “The delay present at the start of the season was a natural consequence of being a customer team in a period in which a lot was pushed on programming, also from the point of view of the power unit”. McLaren, Williams and Alpine are slowly understanding how to extract the most from the Mercedes power unit, which the Miami Grand Prix confirmed to be a precious weapon for getting the better of the track.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News
2026-05-07 03:00:00