Ferrari struggle leaving Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton frustrated after Miami Sprint Qualifying

On Friday, Leclerc set a best time of 1:28.239 in the final SQ3 shootout, while Hamilton managed 1:28.618, leaving the Scuderia trailing the front-runners over a single lap despite a solid showing earlier in the session.

Both drivers progressed comfortably through SQ1 and SQ2 on medium tyres, in line with regulations, but struggled to extract performance from the soft compound when it mattered most in the final phase, where only one timed lap decides the grid.

Ferrari identified tyre performance as the key limitation, with Leclerc pointing to a drop-off on the softer rubber compared to their earlier pace: “Our main weakness was the tyres. The mediums worked well, but the softs weren’t as great, so we have to look into that.

"I think that we can try to do some fine-tuning ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying and find more performance. Our race pace is quite strong so we will push to see if we can make something happen in the Sprint, especially in terms of overtakes," added Leclerc.

Ferrari have work to do with three Mercedes powered cars ahead of them, and a tight midfield sandwiching them in the heart of the 'battlefield' in MIami.

The seven time F1 world champion, was left frustrated with his final result but remained focused on recovery in the Sprint and main qualifying later in the day: “I’m disappointed with the final result of Sprint Qualifying but it’s early in the weekend and we’ll be working hard to have a good Sprint race tomorrow and Qualifying."

Team principal Fred Vasseur said Ferrari failed to execute clean laps in SQ3 and highlighted a broader performance deficit rather than a single issue: “We were very competitive in the first two phases, but then we didn’t put together good laps in SQ3 and our best result was a P4. We have to analyse all the data and focus on what we need to improve.

“We were losing a couple of tenths in a straight line today, but that’s not just down to the engine or to the chassis, it’s down to the whole package. This is less evident in race mode so it might not be the case tomorrow in the Sprint," added the Ferrari boss.

The 19-lap Sprint, starting at 12h00 local time, offers points to the top eight finishers before teams reset for qualifying later in the day to decide Sunday’s main race grid.