03/05/2025 11:40
Charles Leclerc cut a despondent figure at the Miami Grand Prix
after a disappointing Friday qualifying session left him to start
the sprint in sixth. Whilst the Ferrari driver out-performed
team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was seventh fastest, by two-tenths of
a second, he was extremely downbeat about the Italian squad's
prospects at the Miami International Circuit. It has been a
difficult start to the season for the team, but after the
Monegasque's podium finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, there
was hope the Scuderia could push on and show some of the form that
saw it narrowly miss out on the F1 constructors' championship to
McLaren last term. However, the dejected Leclerc appeared resigned
to his immediate fate in Florida, acknowledging that the "pace is
just not there" at the moment with the SF-25 when asked how he felt
about the qualifying result. "Bad," the 27-year-old said directly
in response, before elaborating on the situation further. "The lap
was good, but the pace is just not at all there for now, so it's a
bit annoying, but it's the way it is. "I'll try my best to try and
do something special with the start [of the sprint]. But to be
honest, there's not much room for improvement. That's the pace of
the car." Leclerc's damning indictment Even more concerning for the
Maranello-based outfit is the changing face of its struggles, with
Leclerc pointing out it is not one consistent problem for the team
to address. When asked where the big losses in lap time were coming
from, he offered a damning indictment in reply. "It's every corner,
really," the eight-time grand prix winner explained. "So it's not
like we are particularly weak in one type of corner. "Yes, the slow
speed seems to be a little bit more of our weakness, but it changes
from one weekend to the other, so it's just not great."
