Leclerc Admits: Ferrari Needs More Pace to Win

Charles Leclerc secured a podium but admitted Ferrari lacked the necessary speed to challenge for victory, highlighting the need for improvements to match Red Bull and McLaren.

Charles Leclerc finished on the podium at the Miami F1 Grand Prix, but the Ferrari driver admits that third place was the best he could have achieved. He is pleased to have avoided a collision with Sergio Pérez, who was struggling at the first turn.

“It was very tricky, Checo was on the inside. I slipped at the start, didn’t get off well, saw Checo but there was little grip, he locked up and I thought we were going to touch, but there was no damage,” said the relieved Monegasque driver.

“We were able to focus on ourselves but we lacked a bit of pace. We did our best, we were unlucky with the Safety Car, the timing was not good for us, but we managed everything and third place was the best we could do, so we must be satisfied with that.”

Leclerc is not surprised to see the McLarens so fast, especially after seeing the potential of the upgraded MCL38 during qualifying. He acknowledges that Ferrari needs to make progress to compete: “First of all, I’m very happy for Lando, he deserves it.”

“He’s often been close and for one reason or another, it didn’t work out. But he did an incredible job today, he was on form all weekend, and in Q2 I saw his time, realized they were very fast. We didn’t expect them to be so quick, and we need to work.”