Just 0.9 Seconds Apart: The Huge Miami GP Upgrade Gap Between Red Bull and Ferrari

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Red Bull and McLaren in Miami showed a greater projected performance gain, while Ferrari wasn't able to improve as much as they would have liked. And you have, for example, Audi Racing Bulls and Haas, teams that didn't have a big impact with their updates. We're going to talk about all of this now.

[00:00:16]Hello Resaca Moto fans. Welcome to another video. I'm Matheus Pucci. Well, still talking about Miami now about the pure performance of the teams. We've already had a video talking about first impressions, then bringing some data on Leclerc and Antonelli. Talking about some slightly more controversial topics, now let's talk about pure performance.

[00:00:34]Remember that the source is always in the description for you. Let's start with the following. After 5 weeks of break, we had a real festival of updates, as expected. And you have, for example, Ferrari there with 11 updates, Cadillac with nine, Red Bull and McLaren with seven, Alpine and Racing Bulls with six, Haas and Audi with three, Mercedes with 12, and Aston Martin with no updates. So, we see here that a large part of the grid is bringing some kind of upgrade. Some teams more, others less. Mercedes, for example, will have a bigger package in Canada. Even without having this big package, Mercedes won the race with Kimi Antonelli, as we know, but some changes on the grid were felt. We did see a very different pecking order compared to the first three races, which was a pleasant surprise, since the grid got closer together, especially at the front, which is very good to see. We want to see a fight for the lead. Of course, the sprint format greatly limited how much data the teams could gather. So, it could be that these packages are still optimized and the difference could even get bigger, either as a gain or even a loss for some teams.

[00:01:41]Mercedes clearly didn't have that advantage we expected or that we saw in the first three races. I won't say we expected it, since I've said McLaren was the one to watch and it happened. But, Mercedes advantage, which was around half a second, ended up dropping to less than a 10th, actually less than half a 10th. It's a track that's historically unfavorable for Mercedes. They don't have great results in Miami. So, getting a win ended up being very positive for them. And now we have to keep an eye on whether this Canada package will make Mercedes, let's say, take off again, if they'll open up a bigger gap to the rest of the grid again. But, McLaren also is also set to bring updates to Canada. The qualifying advantage has also decreased a lot, and in the race, it's dropped even more. So, here we have a glimpse of a much more balanced season with McLaren, which is very good. But, on the other hand, we have a Red Bull that had an exponential gain, a projected gain of about 9/10. I was telling you that Red Bull needs to solve the weight problem, and of course, fix some things regarding the car's balance. Apparently, they've managed to take a step forward in that regard. The raw gain is around 9/10. The gain adjusted for the track characteristics is around 7/10. That's still a lot. And remember I told you that the gain Red Bull could have was around 9/10. Of course, I was talking exclusively about weight. I wasn't considering the updates. So, you see that weight plus updates have already reached this raw gain, which is a lot in a short period of time. So, Red Bull had seven updates. The focus of these updates was on the floor, and Verstappen had the new package, Red Bull did not.

[00:03:12]This can help us explain why there was such a big difference between the two, but I admit that this information is still a bit unclear. Some say that Red Bull didn't have the upgrade, others say he did. So, we're going to stay here in this middle ground, not knowing exactly what happened.

[00:03:27]We need to check if Red Bull made an official statement. Based on my research, they haven't. So, when there's no statement, I believe that Red Bull had the package, and that's where the difference starts. It starts to depend much more on the driver. We're starting to have an issue here, and I'll make a video about it since there are odd things happening at Red Bull. The key point is Red Bull improved significantly in raw and projected performance.

[00:03:50]McLaren also did a fantastic job consolidating its progress. We see that McLaren has been reducing its gap over the last few races and actually it was also a very strong gain in a short period of time. In Japan we already saw a stronger McLaren and a raw gain also around 8/10 per lap. That's a lot. The gain adjusted for the track increases going up to almost 9/10. So it's really impressive what McLaren is doing in terms of development and with these seven upgrades that were introduced, you can see that McLaren is once again becoming a contender for victories and in Canada there will be more. So really keep an eye on McLaren. I believe I've been warning about this for quite some time. McLaren could be the team that will trouble Mercedes during this season. If back in Australia we thought Mercedes would have an easy time, now things have changed a little. Meanwhile, Ferrari ended up with a disappointing result because unlike what happened with Mercedes who only brought two updates, Ferrari brought a lot of new things and didn't get the expected improvement.

[00:04:46]Ferrari's improvement is actually a setback. They lost about a 10th and that raises the question, was it because of the sprint format that Ferrari couldn't optimize their package? In the image there is last year's Ferrari car, but I don't take that into account. The point is, did Ferrari get the update wrong or did they just fail to extract everything from it? I hope it's the second option because Ferrari has a great chassis, but their deficit is much more in the engine and that will only be solved with the ADO around the middle of the season onwards. So yes, it's a complex situation, it's a tough situation.

[00:05:17]>> [music] >> But Ferrari fans might have a little reason to be worried.

[00:05:25]I want you to take a look here at the direct comparison between the teams. See how Red Bull is the one that gains the most, then McLaren. After that comes Williams. Williams, in the middle of the pack, managing a fantastic result in terms of performance gain.

[00:05:37]It's still not enough. James Wallace said they need to lose at least 10 more kilos and that's going to be done very slowly over the next few Grands Prix. So Williams still has gains to make including in the aerodynamic area, and Williams' adjusted gain wasn't even that big. It was 2/10. Is that something within the midfield? Yes, within the midfield it is, but the raw gain is much bigger. Aston Martin also had a gain even without updates. This is perhaps due to changes in engine vibrations.

[00:06:05]That doesn't count as an update in the official documents, but it's already a gain for Aston Martin. Alpine also had a gain, although the adjusted gain is smaller. But Alpine got a good result with Colapinto, for example. Meanwhile, Cadillac kind of stayed the same. You can see that Ferrari is above Cadillac there. Cadillac is kind of just holding steady.

[00:06:23]Audi has a little bug there on the right side of the chart, but Audi is one of the teams that brought the fewest updates. So, it's expected that they wouldn't have gained compared to the rest of the grid. On the contrary, they lost. Even so, Gabriel Bortoleto managed to have an excellent recovery race, finishing in 12th place. It makes us think that if he had started further ahead in a more normal position, he could have scored points. Haas also had few updates and because of that, a deficit. And Racing Bulls ended up being the one that lost the most out of the whole grid. You saw Lindblad, for example, running way down at the back.

[00:06:57]So, in this chart, we can already sum up well what this change in Miami was. How will it be for Canada? We'll have to wait and see. But right now, we do have a very curious situation in Formula 1 with a pecking order that's changed a lot. And then, you can see, for example, how this number of updates compares to the result. The main names here are Ferrari, which ended up losing performance, McLaren and Red Bull, which moved forward. And here, the chart is based on the number of updates. Racing Bulls is falling behind in terms of performance loss at the bottom of the chart. The lower you are, the worse it is. And Aston Martin is staying there even above Ferrari in terms of performance gain, okay? It's not pure performance even without having made updates. So, Aston Martin ended up gaining without doing anything. Red Bull and McLaren were the main teams in this regard.

[00:07:49]So, do we need to pay attention to what happened in Miami and look at Canada?

[00:07:53]Mercedes brought fewer updates than their direct rivals, and that's important. Track characteristics play a big role along with regulation changes and it being a sprint weekend.

[00:08:03]All of this combined creates a situation that might not be repeated in Canada, even though I still expect a very strong McLaren. But then we'll wait for the next Grand Prix to talk about it. We still have many other topics to cover from Miami. I want to know your opinion in the comments. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on the notification bell so you don't miss anything. This Leclerc shirt right here, you can find it at Paddock BR with the coupon Resaca Motor.

[00:08:25]You have games and gift cards on sale at Instant Gaming, helmets, cockpits, and steering wheels at Evo, your favorite driver's design with the coupon Resaca, and international legal assistance at Amorim Global, where you won't have to worry at all about visas, green cards, or international investments. Anyway, check it out. A big hug. Thanks, and see you. Oh.