Charles Leclerc remains optimistic in Miami: “We struggled on softs, but our race pace is stronger”. Charles Leclerc finished 4th in Miami Sprint Qualifying.

Charles Leclerc finished 4th in the Sprint Qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix. It is a result that does not fully satisfy him, but it still allows him to remain optimistic for the rest of the weekend.

Sprint Qualifying Miami: Leclerc P4

First in Free Practice, first in SQ1, and first in SQ2. Then, as often happens, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari suffered a drop in performance in the decisive time attack phase, where the SF-26 was unable to find those extra tenths that their rivals managed to extract with relative ease.

This pattern repeated itself in Miami Sprint Qualifying, where Charles Leclerc ultimately classified in fourth position. A result that did not satisfy him in terms of performance—he even described the lap over team radio as “horrible”—nor in terms of grid position, but one that still allows him to remain optimistic for Sunday. According to the Monegasque, the updated SF-26 has strong race pace that could allow him to fight back towards the front.

Leclerc’s comments

“The upgrades went well, but everyone brought improvements, so we more or less expected a situation where Mercedes is probably still the car to beat,” Charles Leclerc said in his immediate post-session comments.

“McLaren has made a big step forward, but I think they did not optimise the first part of the season; they were always there but didn’t put everything together.”

“On our side, we struggled with the tyres. The mediums worked very well, but with the softs today we didn’t have good feelings. We need to analyse what happened. We know we are stronger on race pace, but in qualifying there is still work to do.”

“I think in qualifying we can find a bit more performance, but I still hope that in the race we can come back to the front. We have the pace to do it, and we will see if we can also be brave in overtaking.”

In summary, while Charles Leclerc faced challenges extracting peak performance from the soft tires during the final segment of Miami Sprint Qualifying, his confidence in Ferrari’s updated race trim suggests a strong comeback is possible during the Sprint race.