Mercedes has learned: 'We are not going to make this mistake again in Miami'

Mercedes is currently (unintentionally) in a period of learning: despite the season being in full swing, the German team still does not fully know the secrets of the W15. A new challenge awaits in Miami in a week's time, as under the American sun awaits a circuit unlike any this season. James Allison, Mercedes' technical boss, is therefore curious to see how his team will fare there.

The race in China was one where the fronts of the F1 cars were heavily loaded. In Shanghai, there were a lot of fast corners, which proved challenging for the front tyres. In Miami, on the other hand, a lot of slow corners await the drivers, and a lot of braking makes it tough on the rear of the cars. " Our challenge is not to repeat what we did in China in Miami, because this is really a completely different circuit and requires a completely different approach," Allison said.

'Main race no place for ambitious ideas'

There is not much time to puzzle over the set-up. With only one free practice session under the new changes, qualifying for Saturday's sprint race follows straight after. " We are going to experience the joy of another sprint weekend," says Allison. "We experienced last time (in China) that if we want to be ambitious, we need to be so in the sprint race and be more conservative in the main race, rather than the other way around. Hopefully we'll get the car right, with the updates we bring to Miami on a grid that is certainly very much matched in qualifying."

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Allison realises that a few tenths in lap time can make a big difference. " So we are extremely looking forward to seeing how that will work out," concludes the German's technical man.