Ferrari engineers said to have broken the ‘top rule,’ which hurt their performance in Miami
Ferrari got some criticism for not following Formula 1’s “golden rule,” which might explain their tough day at the Miami Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished sixth and eighth, but it wasn’t an easy race for the team.
Hamilton lost about half a second of downforce every lap after getting hit by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto right at the start. Leclerc was doing great, holding third place near the end, but then lost his spot to Oscar Piastri. On the final lap, he spun out at turn three, damaging his suspension. After falling behind George Russell and Max Verstappen, he also got a 20-second penalty for cutting corners while trying to finish the race.
Clearly, Ferrari wasn’t happy with their results and seemed to fall behind McLaren and Mercedes. James Hinchcliffe, a former IndyCar driver and current F1TV commentator, said Ferrari broke the main rule of engineering with the upgrades they brought to Miami. The team tested new parts during a filming day at Monza in the five-week break, including a new rear wing called the “Macarena” and an updated front wing endplate. Overall, Ferrari brought 11 updates to Miami, according to an official FIA document.
Hinchcliffe thinks that bringing so many changes at once, especially with limited practice because of the sprint weekend, made things really tough. “The number one rule is to make one change at a time, so you know what works and what doesn’t,” he said. “But with no testing and only one practice session, adding 11 or 12 parts is really hard for the engineers and drivers. Everything on an F1 car works together, so it’s tricky to handle so many upgrades at once.”
He added that Ferrari might not have gotten the most out of their car all weekend, but they were still doing pretty well until Leclerc’s spin at the end. Hamilton also felt Ferrari had the speed to fight for better positions. He said the team made good improvements from the sprint to qualifying, and the car felt strong heading into the race before his damage. “Without the damage, I think we would have been right in the mix,” he told Crash.net. “It’s a shame because it doesn’t really show all the hard work from the team.”