Vasseur assesses 'mega tough' Miami GP for Ferrari after P6 and P8 finish

Team Principal Fred Vasseur has reflected on Ferrari's difficult Miami Grand Prix, suggesting "that the weekend went pretty well until the race" as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished P6 and P8 respectively.

Ferrari returned from the break in Miami with several upgrades in a bid to close the gap to Mercedes, the Scuderia having been the German manufacturer's closest rival over the opening three rounds.

Leclerc in particular showed promise, claiming a podium in the Sprint and starting third for the Grand Prix, which became the lead after the opening sequence of corners.

The Monegasque driver eventually slipped off the podium before suffering a last-lap spin and subsequent 20-second penalty which left him eighth, while Hamilton nursed damage sustained on the opening lap through to sixth.

"It's a mega tough Sunday," said Vasseur post-race on F1 TV. "I think that the weekend went pretty well until the race.

"Lap 1 we lost part of the front bargeboard with Lewis and it was almost the end of the race. Charles we are fighting for P3, we can also see the good side of this and he could have parked the car at Turn 4 [after the spin], but it's tough.

"Honestly, we didn't have time to discuss [the spin immediately post-race] but I think he got the car a little bit on the kerb. He was pushing to try and keep in contact with [Oscar] Piastri for the last lap."

Vasseur noted that Ferrari's pace in the opening stint on the medium tyre had been encouraging as Leclerc battled for the lead with eventual race winner Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris.

High temperatures meant keeping the Pirelli rubber in the right operating window was a challenge, though, with Leclerc slipping well away from the lead battle on the hard tyre even prior to his spin.

"It was the story from the beginning of the weekend about tyre management, tyre temperature," said Vasseur, conceding that Ferrari's tyre management was a key area for improvement.

"As soon as you are in a good position the pace is there. It was true for us but it was true for everybody with a big swing of performance and it's quite easy to overheat and to go on the other side.

"It's true that the first stint went very well. Then we had the Safety Car, we packed everybody together, then it's a lot about energy management.

"You had two phases in the race, the first one when we are in free air with the good pace, and then when we had the Safety Car it allowed everybody to come back and it was much more difficult."