Why McLaren’s Miami F1 dominance wasn’t just a factor of tire management

“We saw that when McLaren was pushing, we were between seven tenths and a second behind. For the first time, we saw their pure speed,” was Helmut Marko’s verdict after the Miami Grand Prix, offering a clear, raw picture of the McLaren’s superiority.

Of the six rounds held so far, the most recent one is the first in which the papaya team fully showcased its potential. Until then, owing to various race circumstances, that speed had been at least partially concealed.

Two elements stood out the most in Florida: the final gap, and the speed with which Lando Norris managed to get back behind Max Verstappen after the first-lap incident.

After slipping to sixth position, with two Mercedes and a Williams to overtake, Norris took just 13 laps to close the gap to Verstappen.

Granted, he had some assistance from factors such as the ease of overtaking in Miami with DRS (improved this year by the extension of one of the zones), and Verstappen’s battle with Oscar Piastri, which slowed both of them down. However, the speed with which Norris made his comeback gave a concrete measure of McLaren’s potential in Miami.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

All of this fits into a broader picture: a gap of nearly 40 seconds to third-place man George Russell at the chequered flag. But where does such a large gap come from – one of the biggest in the ground-effect era?

Tire management, an area in which McLaren has already provided ample evidence of superiority, is certainly one of the factors. But it’s not the only one, despite intrigue and innuendo surrounding how it has achieved this performance.

“Every time conditions become difficult for the tires, particularly with overheating, the car seems to do an excellent job of keeping them in an ideal operating window,” said Andrea Stella, also highlighting the solutions found to keep them cool. It’s no coincidence that McLaren’s advantage grows on hotter circuits.

“I want to take this opportunity to praise the work done by the engineers, both in identifying the factors that affect tire management and in designing the car in such a way as to gain an advantage. They’ve also mastered one of the aspects of F1 that remains almost a dark art: tire management.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

It was 12 months ago in Miami that McLaren’s comeback began – but even though the MCL38 was transformed by the update package applied that weekend, tire management wasn’t its forte. On the contrary, especially on a flying lap, high temperatures made it difficult for the car to extract grip from the soft compound.

For the MCL39 McLaren has applied the lessons of 2024, not just in terms of tire management but also mechanical and aerodynamic versatility and effectiveness in the slow sections – which also used to be a weakness. And this is precisely where that nearly 40-second gap to the competition comes from, even if McLaren did save a few seconds by benefiting from the Virtual Safety Car during its pitstops.

Analysing the race data it’s clear that, in the first stint, after wearing out his tires in the battle with the McLarens, Verstappen was no longer able to exploit the potential of the RB21 in the high-speed sections. In Turn 5, where in qualifying McLaren had a deficit of 8 km/h, by the end of the first stint the papaya car had gained a 15 km/h advantage.

But it’s in the second half of the race that an even more interesting fact emerges: after switching to the hard tires, Verstappen regained pace in the fast corners, once again making use of his car’s only remaining real strength. But it wasn’t enough to overturn McLaren’s effectiveness in the slow corners.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Where a year ago the MCL38 suffered from chronic understeer, the MCL39 has now turned that into one of its greatest weapons.

This topic fits into the broader context of versatility. The MCL39 isn’t the perfect car, but it is the most complete – capable of adapting to a wide range of tracks. While Miami is a circuit that played more to McLaren’s strengths than Red Bull’s, it remains a complex track to set up for, requiring a balance between slow corners, fast sections, and straights.

And it is precisely thanks to this versatility that McLaren is able to make the difference – continuing to dominate in the slow sections without overly compromising performance in medium-high speed areas, where other cars remain absolutely superior.

It’s not just a matter of temperature. If you look at the track temperature on Sunday in Miami, it was comparable to – if not lower than – what was seen in Jeddah. Yet Red Bull suffered greater tire overheating than in Saudi Arabia.

“We had hotter tires than in Jeddah, and even a small temperature variation can change a lot of things,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. “The tires are very sensitive.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

If in Jeddah Red Bull was able to set up its car to shine in the fast corners, in Miami it failed to find a compromise as effective as McLaren’s. It’s not just a matter of tire management, but also of operating window and technical versatility – areas in which the MCL39 excels.

Another performance factor is clearly temperature-related, though. The Honda engine – like the Ferrari to some extent – requires more pronounced hot air dissipation, and it’s no coincidence that in the hottest or most humid races, Red Bull is among the cars with the largest cooling louvres.

By contrast, the Mercedes power unit seems to handle this requirement better, and some of McLaren’s design choices have maximised its potential. This allows for tighter, more streamlined bodywork – not just along the engine cover, but also at the end of the central cooling outlet – resulting in clear benefits for aerodynamic efficiency.

“There’s another characteristic that works very well with our car: cooling. When it’s hot, you can see how our car remains relatively closed, precisely because a lot of work has gone into this area as well,” added Stella. “I believe McLaren’s engineering excellence has reached a level that really makes a difference.”

A car that isn’t perfect – but certainly the most complete.