Leclerc is "not accepting" Ferrari's persistent lack of pace in qualifying
On the back of a tough Saturday at the Miami International Autodrome, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc insisted that he is not accepting that the Scuderia is currently lacking pace in qualifying trim.
Saturday was an eventful day for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque suffered a crash in wet conditions on his way to the grid prior to the Sprint getting underway which ultimately left him unable to start the 100km dash.
Although Ferrari managed to repair his SF25 for qualifying, the Monegasque was unable to fight for top position as his car lacked grip over a single hot lap.
Reflecting on his weekend so far in Miami, Leclerc said: "It’s been a tough weekend so far. This morning wasn’t a great start, and in qualifying, I expected to have a chance to turn things around.
"We just don’t have the pace and the grip our competitors have and a track like this reveals this weakness even more. This is not the result we want as a team and there’s a lot of work ahead of us."
Pushed on how difficult it is to accept that the performance is not currently there in the car, Leclerc responded: “The fact is that I’m not accepting it! It’s just not good enough.
“It’s frustrating because it’s those kinds of days, there’s been quite a few races already that I feel I’m doing a really good job but when you are finishing P4, P5, P6, P7, P8, it’s just a shame. I have no satisfaction of doing a good job.
“I’m just hoping that we can turn the situation around as soon as possible, but at the moment that’s the situation we are in and there’s not much I can do.”
Although Leclerc displayed an impressive performance last time out in Jeddah, showing encouraging race pace and tyre management, the 27-year*old claimed that he rules out any miracles from the Scuderia at the Miami International Autodrome.
“A little bit, but not so much either. I don’t think we can expect any miracles from us tomorrow. It’s been a difficult race weekend since FP1 and it’s difficult to recover.
“I’ll give my best, I hope the race pace will be as strong as in Jeddah but it’s a very different characteristics of track here. I think that on paper it’s going to be more difficult.”
