With Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on different strategies in the second half of the race, the former closed up courtesy of a fresh set of medium tyres.
That created a position where Hamilton had more pace, but was unable to find a way through Leclerc without the assistance of the pit wall.
Once that decision was finally made, several laps later, Hamilton’s pace advantage had disappeared and he was eventually moved back aside for Leclerc to reclaim seventh at the chequered flag.
Speaking after the race, Leclerc admitted that he hadn’t considered allowing his teammate through before being asked to do so by his engineer.
“Not really,” he said when asked if he’d planned to let Hamilton through before being instructed to do so.
“I knew Lewis was on a medium, so if anything, he would struggle a bit more to go to the end than me, so we had to take care of tyres.
“But I understand as well that he wanted to try and do something different.
“I appreciate that. I mean, I would have done the same thing if I was him and trying to be a bit more aggressive with the medium tyres.”
The saga arguably cost Ferrari a chance at attacking Kimi Antonelli for sixth, Leclerc falling 1.5s short of the Mercedes driver.
Hamilton meanwhile slipped back sharply in the final laps and became vulnerable to Carlos Sainz in ninth – the Williams clattering into his Ferrari at Turn 17 on the final lap.
“There’s no bad feelings with Lewis, not at all,” Leclerc insisted.
“I understand that he wants to try and optimise as much as I want to try and optimise the car’s potential.
“The car’s potential is just this, which is frustrating.”
Though Hamilton won the Chinese GP Sprint and was third in the Miami Sprint, Ferrari has had just a single grand prix podium this season.
That is well short of expectations as the Scuderia finds itself in something of a middle ground between the leading three teams and the midfield.
Leclerc suggests that ongoing disappointment played a factor in the Miami ordeal as he found himself battling for the minor points.
“There’s the frustration already that I was fighting for P8 at the time,” he admitted.
“I was not making any gains, so there’s a frustration of that, and then all the rest, and it all adds up.
“The radio doesn’t always… In this case, probably… But the radio is not always the real picture.”
Ferrari sits fourth in the constructors’ championship with 94 points, 11 behind Red Bull where Max Verstappen alone has contributed 99.
McLaren heads the standings with 246 points and five wins from the opening six races.
Discussion about this post