While the top positions were occupied by the top teams once again in Miami, the misfortunes for Lance Stroll and Oscar Piastri meant that two mid-field teams, the Visa Cash RB outfit and Haas could leave the Miami Grand Prix with points in their bags.
Visa Cash RB endured contrasting fortunes in Miami. The Faenza-based outfit started strongly as Daniel Ricciardo secured a sensational fourth-placed finish in the 100km sprint. However, the Australian failed to qualify high in the main qualifying, and ended the Miami race down in 15th.
His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had a tough sprint qualifying which defined his fortunes in the 100km dash. However, he worked his way up into the last segment of the main qualifying session, and delivered a brilliant performance to take P7 in the Miami race.
Daniel Ricciardo, 15th
“Entering the race you always have some optimism, but yesterday’s quali hurt, and unfortunately, I think was the shape of today’s race. We were stuck in traffic in the race and were simply not quick enough to come through the field. When we were surrounded by the other cars and fighting with them, we struggled a lot to use our pace compared to what we did yesterday in the Sprint with the clean air. Compared to other cars, I think that with our setup we were quite down on straight-line speed.
“I couldn’t do anything and was stuck behind them. We’ll definitely be looking into it in our debrief, but generally, we know that we have to qualify better, like I did on Friday, which has also been the mirror of yesterday’s Sprint. Taking the positives, the team leaves Miami very happy; I had a good Sprint-qualifying and Sprint in the previous days, and Yuki also got some points today. I’m also genuinely happy for Lando, big congratulations to him, he is a rival but also a friend. I know how talented he is and I knew it was just a matter of time for him to take his first win.”
Yuki Tsunoda, 7th
“Very happy, what a great job by the team! It’s been an incredible week in which we scored in both races. We kind of expected we would have a good performance here but the most important thing is that we achieved it. As a team, we stuck to our plan and didn’t make any mistakes today. As for me, overall, I’m happy with my driving even though I made a mistake at the start. I reset myself and kept going, and especially in the last stint where I was just driving by myself, I was pushing and able to achieve similar lap times to the cars in front. The team developed a great car and I appreciate them a lot.
“The amount of push from the factory is incredible and in the end, we were able to score well-deserved points. We were able to progress quickly from the start of the season, so I’m looking forward to the future. The next race in Imola is kind of another home race for me, so I hope we’ll be able to continue our rhythm and achieve a good result in front of our home crowd, especially people from the factory. Everyone is doing a fantastic job and we’ll definitely keep pushing!”
Finally! Alpine’s difficult start to the 2024 F1 season is well documented. The team’s A524 has lacked top-speed on long straights and has not produced enough load through high-speed corners. However, the new floor that Alpine introduced in China two weeks ago has clearly been a step in the right direction.
Both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly displayed improved competitiveness in the sprint shootout and the main qualifying session, and the former Hungarian GP winner finally scored Alpine’s first point of the season with a tenth-placed finish in Miami.
Esteban Ocon, 10th
“It is good to score a point today and get off the mark for the season. In the past few races, we have been getting closer and finally this weekend we come away with a reward, which is what the team deserve given their efforts in recent weeks. It was a very intense race from start to finish, and good battles throughout.
“We cannot be fully satisfied with the result because it is only one point, but it is an important point for our season. From where we were in Bahrain on the last row, to where we are now – it is credit to the entire team at Enstone and Viry for keeping the belief and motivation and continuing to improve the car. Hopefully, it is going to be the first points of many for the rest of the season.”
Pierre Gasly, 12th
“We had a great race today even if we missed out on scoring points. We did everything we had to do in order to put ourselves in the best possible position to score points. We had good pace, we battled hard at the start to keep position and then, as with our plan, we pitted early. The VSC timing did not go in my favour but that is the way it is sometimes. From a team perspective, we scored the first point of the season and that’s most important.
“Whether it’s me or Esteban does not matter and I’m just really pleased for the team today. It’s great for motivation and confidence for everyone at Enstone and Viry. We need a lot more to fight for higher positions. We are in the mix, it’s been the best weekend of the season from a performance point of view, so it’s good to show progress.”
Just like the old days. Mega racing out there from these two 👏 pic.twitter.com/IT22xaIs4i
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) May 5, 2024
Not a finish they hoped for after a promising starting position. Haas finished with Nico Hulkenberg 11th, and Kevin Magnussen 18th, at the Miami Grand Prix after a tough day in the office. The German started well, but he complained about the lack of grip during his opening sint. By contrast, his team-mate was involved in another incident, this time out with Logan Sargeant with the collision sending the American driver into the barriers.
Nico Hulkenberg, 11th
“It’s been a good weekend. Obviously, the icing on the cake would’ve been another points finish today. Unfortunately, the first half of the race – the first stint and the first part of the second stint – weren’t strong enough. I was struggling for grip, and we weren’t quick enough in that part of the race. The VSC wasn’t great, and when the Safety Car came out it became a three-stop race but that put us back on the map, and there was some good racing. I enjoyed the race, I don’t think we could’ve done anything differently.”
Kevin Magnussen, 19th
“It wasn’t a good day, again. Hopefully I can get some clarity on things going forward. What happened today, of course it’s not good, but nonetheless, we try to move on and have a better weekend next weekend.”
Another weekend without points – that is the summary of Kick Sauber’s performance at the Miami Grand Prix. The Hinwil-based lacked speed on the hot and slippery surface of the Miami International Autodrome, and points never really looked possible for Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas. The Florida weekend left Kick Sauber pointless with Williams being the only other team yet to score any points in 2024.
Valtteri Bottas, 16th
“It was good to try something different with the strategy today, given the position we were starting from; unfortunately, the timing of the Safety Car didn’t quite work out for us. We didn’t have the pace we thought we would have, so, eventually, there wasn’t much we could do to progress through the field. Still, we learned a lot this weekend. We’ll have a chance to go for it again in two weeks’ time in Imola, on a completely different track layout. We’re also set to bring some new parts there, which should further help us: as we’ve seen this weekend, the battle around us is extremely tight, and even the smallest margin could make all the difference.”
Zhou Guanyu, 14th
“Today we tried everything we could. It was a tough race that felt quite similar to yesterday’s sprint session, with a good first stint. Unfortunately, I found myself stuck behind Alex [Albon] and, while I was able to leverage our corner speed advantage, we simply couldn’t match the top speed of his Williams.
“Even with DRS available to me, I couldn’t close the gap enough to overtake fully. We still keep working hard: unlike some of our rivals, we haven’t introduced any major upgrades in the last two races, but the team is putting in significant efforts, and we remain positive that our next developments, starting from next time out in Imola, will perform as expected, hopefully allowing us to fight for points.”
Williams left Florida with their worst result of the year. The Grove-based outfit did not score any points in Miami with Alexander Albon struggling for pace due to overheating of the tyres. The Thai driver finished in P18, but his one-lap was not too impressive either this time out.
The Miami native Logan Sargeant showed encouraging pace during the 57-lap Florida race, but a collision with Haas racer Kevin Magnussen ended his race in the barriers.
Alex Albon, 18th
“We’ve struggled with grip all weekend and then tried to do a long run on the tyres which didn’t work. It’s probably one of the most challenging races I’ve had with the team, so we need to go away and understand why it was so difficult. It’s true, we didn’t have bad pace but the cars behind us were all on new tyres so I was the backstop for everyone else and you can’t really hold off cars on 20+ lap newer tyres than you.
“If we weren’t that last car, we might’ve been okay but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. When I locked up, I was trying to defend, and we now know some floor damage from a previous corner caused this. A really tough weekend but we’ll look to Imola where the team brings some small upgrades.”
Logan Sargeant, DNF
“A very disappointing way to end my home grand prix. It was decent race up until the incident. From what I could tell Alex [Albon] and I were both missing a little bit of pace today but still fighting on. Nonetheless, it’s been a positive weekend from the moment I got into the car in FP1. I’ve been able to get almost everything out of it. There are still little things to improve on but generally I don’t feel like there was much left in it this weekend. I’m feeling fine and ready to move on to a stint of European races.”
