GP Miami 2026 | Charles Leclerc’s complaints during the Sprint Race and outlook for the race: “The higher we are in qualifying…”
Charles Leclerc finished the Miami Sprint Race in third position, behind the two McLaren cars of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The Monegasque driver remained optimistic after the session, and his comments also reflected his expectations ahead of the main race.
After securing fourth place in Sprint Qualifying, Charles Leclerc managed to improve by one position in the Sprint Race at Miami, ultimately finishing in third place. As expected, the SF-26 proved to be more competitive in race conditions compared to qualifying, although the gap in terms of pure power performance remains significant, something both Ferrari drivers highlighted during the short race.
Leclerc’s Sprint began with an excellent start, allowing him to immediately overtake Kimi Antonelli. In the opening laps, the Monegasque defended strongly against pressure from the Italian driver, while also reporting concerns regarding the power unit, which he noted is still suffering from a deficit of around thirty horsepower compared to Mercedes-powered cars.
“We are so slow, especially with the overtake mode,” Leclerc said over team radio, clearly underlining the performance limitation at that stage of the race. Despite this, Ferrari’s updates and the strong chassis of the SF-26 allowed the Monegasque to maintain the pace of Oscar Piastri, who appeared slightly slower than the Ferrari driver towards the end of the Sprint.
Car number 16 did everything possible to attempt an overtake on the Australian driver, but the lack of straight-line performance made any passing opportunity extremely difficult, effectively preventing Ferrari from completing a clean attack on the McLaren.
Leclerc after the Sprint: “The updates are okay”
Speaking to F1 TV after the Sprint Race, Leclerc first addressed Ferrari’s upgrade package introduced in Miami.
“The updates delivered the responses we were expecting, and the team did an exceptional job over these five weeks of the break. From that perspective, there is satisfaction, although third place is not enough for us, because our target is to be even higher. McLaren also brought a significant upgrade package. The gap is not big, and we are not far away at all,” Leclerc explained.
The Monegasque driver then discussed his race and the strong pace he felt behind the wheel of the SF-26.
“I am more disappointed with our Sprint Qualifying yesterday than with today’s race, because in the end we had a good start. I think the pace was there. It was very difficult to stay close in the second sector, but we were quite competitive, even if it was not enough to overtake Oscar. Overall, though, I think our race pace was a bit stronger compared to qualifying yesterday,” he added.
Regarding the possibility of fighting for victory in the main race, Leclerc remained cautious but open-minded:
“Well, tomorrow it will rain. So I think we are all going into the unknown. But of course, the higher we are in qualifying, the better,” he said.
The Ferrari driver believes that something important could still be achieved in the race, but the likelihood of rain adds a major variable. Weather forecasts suggest a high chance of wet conditions, which could significantly reshuffle the competitive order seen so far in the weekend.
The SF-26 has shown strong tyre warm-up performance in the early stages of the season, which could become an advantage in wet conditions. At the same time, the car from Maranello also appears to be one of the strongest in aerodynamic efficiency, a factor that could play a key role if the race becomes unpredictable and conditions fluctuate.
Leave a Reply