Red Bull set to suffer again in 2025? McLaren may just have the edge in Miami

13:28, 28 Apr

Updated: 13:29, 28 Apr

byNorberto Mujica

Pirelli's prescriptions for the Miami Grand Prix are in: Advantage McLaren? Red Bull to have a Bahrain Grand Prix repeat? Find out here.

Not only does Red Bull Racing's tyre preservation suffer when the temperatures are too high, but championship rivals, McLaren, seem to thrive under these conditions.

Bad news for Red Bull? Pirelli goes 'soft' again for Miami Grand Prix

F1's offical tyre supplier have chosen to go for a repeat of the compounds used for the past race in Jeddah.

"C3 as Hard, C4 as Medium and C5 as Soft. Again, just as in Jeddah, this is a step softer than last season," says Pirelli in a press release.

"The surface of the track that runs around the stadium is very smooth, exposing the tyres to moderate longitudinal and lateral forces. Thermal degradation will be a major factor, as temperatures are expected to be very high, given that last year’s track temperature exceeded 55 °C."

Pirelli issues aggressive tyre allocation for Miami hoping for two-stop race

So far all races this season have been one-stoppers, something Pirelli's tyre choice for Miami, is evidently trying to address.

"So far, the Miami Grand Prix has been a one-stop race, including last year’s. The Medium was the tyre of choice for the opening stint for 15 of the 20 drivers, before a switch mainly to the Hard, with just a couple of drivers opting for the Soft, which actually displayed relatively low degradation," they said regarding last year's race.

"The performance differential between all three of last year’s compounds, C2, C3 and C4, was quite small. The strategy, particularly the timing of the pit stop, was affected by a Virtual Safety Car, which then morphed into a full Safety Car period. It will be interesting to see if this year’s softer compounds will open the door to a two-stop strategy."

Are Red Bull set to suffer in Miami - and are McLaren to dominate?

In high temperatures, Red Bull have been unable to keep their tyres' temperatures under control, with their tyre preservation efforts rendered useless due to overheating, which has in turn affected their performance levels significantly.

In Jeddah, however, the team seemed to turn a corner in this respect, although temperatures were nowhere near as high as they are expected to be in Miami.

McLaren are the total opposite, though, with the papaya squad being the quickest across all circuits and all conditions. Their tyre conservation is second to none so far, and particularly in the heat, they seem to have a substantial advantage on the rest of the field as FP2 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix showed.

The race weekend in Miami is set to be the second sprint event of the year, and so teams will only get on practice session to try and nail the set-up before heading into the first relevant session of the weekend.