Charles Leclerc delivered an impressive performance in the F1 Sprint in Miami, securing P2.
Everyone was watching enthusiastically as Leclerc contended fiercely with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen right from the start. On his new mediums, the Ferrari driver got a great launch but could not quite get far enough alongside to make the move into turn 1.
When asked to describe the race start, Leclerc said, “I had quite a good start and then I was on the inside of turn one.
“Obviously, I didn’t want to take too many risks because we’ve also got qualifying later on, and if you have a crash in [the] Sprint, then you probably don’t participate later on.”
He spoke about the restraint he exercised, considering the upcoming qualifying session. Despite braking very late along with Verstappen, Leclerc had to settle for second out of turn 1 as the Dutchman managed to maintain his lead.
Reflecting on his Sprint race, Leclerc noted that Red Bull had a smidge more pace but the degradation was equal.
“We both brake very late with Max, but eventually, he got to keep the position.
“And then I was pushing very hard, but in the first few laps, they had a bit more pace. Then we had a similar degradation. So tomorrow it’s a long race.”
With the main race on Sunday, Leclerc emphasised the importance of his performance during the qualifying session scheduled for later today.
“Qualifying will be important to be starting as much in front as possible and then hopefully we can put them under pressure with the strategy.”
When asked about his outlook for the qualifying round, Leclerc expressed optimism based on his sprint performance, qualifying and finishing in a very strong P2. He hopes to go for pole in Grand Prix qualifying.
“It was obviously very close yesterday. Not many laps in FP1. So hopefully now with the Sprint race, I got a bit more laps around this track, and I hope we can target for the pole position, let’s see if we manage to achieve that,” he explained.
