{"id":34916,"date":"2025-05-03T13:06:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T12:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formula1news.co.uk\/?p=34916"},"modified":"2025-05-03T13:06:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T12:06:35","slug":"mercedes-w16-sparks-legality-debate-at-miami-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formula1news.co.uk\/mercedes-w16-sparks-legality-debate-at-miami-gp\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes W16 sparks legality debate at Miami GP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Mercedes&#8217; W16 drew surprise and suspicion in Miami, especially from Williams driver Alex Albon, who questioned the legality of the car\u2019s performance during Sprint qualifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Albon Raises Eyebrows with Radio Comment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Albon was following George Russell\u2019s Mercedes when he radioed in, saying: \u201cI don\u2019t know how that Merc is legal.\u201d Though no context was given, the remark hinted at visible advantages, particularly in grip and speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Albon will start P8, while Russell qualified fifth and Kimi Antonelli shocked the paddock by grabbing pole with a time of 1:26.482.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Disappointment in Q3 for Williams<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After the session, Albon admitted he had higher hopes: \u201cMaybe a little bit disappointed in Q3. I thought my lap felt pretty good, but we were a bit further away than I would have liked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also pointed to tyre struggles: \u201cI felt like in many ways, the car was a bit better in FP1 than it was in qualifying\u2026 but we can try and get it a bit better for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, he noted, \u201cwe\u2019re still best of the rest, so I can\u2019t complain too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Antonelli Poised for F1 Breakthrough<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Antonelli, meanwhile, is focused on capitalizing on his pole. \u201cI\u2019m feeling over the moon,\u201d the 18-year-old said. \u201cI was feeling good in the car. I was able to improve lap by lap\u2026 and that lap came all together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking ahead to the Sprint, he added: \u201cWe did quite a long run in FP1 to try and gather as many information as possible\u2026 but I guess we will see tomorrow during the race.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mercedes&#8217; W16 drew surprise and suspicion in Miami, especially from Williams driver Alex Albon, who questioned the legality of the car\u2019s performance during Sprint qualifying. Albon Raises Eyebrows with Radio Comment Albon was following George Russell\u2019s Mercedes when he radioed in, saying: \u201cI don\u2019t know how that Merc is legal.\u201d Though no context was given, the remark hinted at visible advantages, particularly in grip and speed. Albon will start P8, while Russell qualified fifth and Kimi Antonelli shocked the paddock by grabbing pole with a time of 1:26.482. Disappointment in Q3 for Williams After the session, Albon admitted he had<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":30504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,26,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-latest-news","category-regulations"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mercedes W16 sparks legality debate at Miami GP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alex Albon will start the sprint in Miami in P8, while George Russell qualified fifth and Kimi Antonelli shocked the paddock by grabbing pole.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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