![]() ![]() But what sets those two champions apart is their consistency. I’d still put Leclerc in the mix with Verstappen and Hamilton as one of the best drivers in the field. In a car that isn’t as fast as the Red Bull this year, is he searching for lap time that just isn’t there? It seems to me he needs to reset his expectations a little bit. Leclerc has bemoaned the 2023 Ferrari as being inconsistent with balance, overly wind sensitive and overall tricky to drive, which it might well be, but his driving has also got to be questioned. We’ve also seen Charles have more than his fair share of incidents in practice sessions as well. On top of this we’ve seen a crash in Imola last year and a pivotal one from the lead in France, both of which while he was fighting for the win. THIS WEEK IN F1: 10 quiz questions on the latest F1 news after the Miami Grand Prixįour years on and we’ve seen another crash in Baku qualifying (whilst already on provisional pole – much like Monaco qualifying in 2021) and now a Miami crash. We’ve seen it all the way back from his first season at Ferrari in 2019, crashing out in Baku in Q2 needlessly when pole was on the cards, and admonishing himself with the infamous “I am stupid” radio message to his team (as you can see in the clip below). He was already marginally down on his previous lap by the time he got to Turn 6 and was walloping the kerbs through the preceding S-bends, desperately trying to make a difference.Īt Turn 6, he was too greedy on the apex and, barrelling in at tremendous speed over the bumpy surface, he bottomed out and lost the rear, hitting the wall and consigning himself to a lowly seventh on the grid.įor such a talented driver, it’s fair to say he makes a lot of mistakes. Ferrari did the right thing sending Leclerc early for his second run to give him a clear track for a final push, but Charles was guilty of overdriving, searching for time that wasn’t there. The bigger error, which compounded the misery, was on the next lap. These mistakes happen from time to time – we saw plenty of lock-ups and missed apexes at that corner particularly throughout the weekend. Leclerc made his first mistake on run one of Q3, pushing the braking too late into Turn 17 and costing himself the lap by going offline on the tricky Miami surface. ![]() READ MORE: 'We are very, very far away' – Sainz and Leclerc exasperated by ‘incredibly difficult’ Ferrari SF-23 His pace was fairly on par with team mate Carlos Sainz through the weekend and both Ferraris looked to be battling for a place in the top three. In qualifying it was more the do-or-die Leclerc we’re growing used to. There’s not quite the necessity to push for the last tenth of a second as there is on a quali simulation run, so it’s always frustrating to end the day with significant damage. These runs are about getting a feel for the tyres, measuring the limitations for the Grand Prix, whilst giving the drivers a chance to get their eye in on high fuel and work out tips and tricks they can do from the cockpit to help come race day. It always feels a bit needless for a team to see their driver crash in the practice long runs. He carried a little too much speed in and with the car already on the edge of rear grip was downshifting and turning, which seemed to unsettle the car and pitch him into an oversteer which ended up causing the crash. In FP2, he was on a long run when he lost control of his Ferrari halfway around the long 180-degree Turn 6/7/8 left-hander. TECH TUESDAY: How Ferrari tried to tame their SF-23 with new floor upgrades in Miami In Miami, his two crashes were at the same corner, but were very different in nature. Yet too often it ends in tears for the Monegasque driver, who has only enhanced his growing reputation as a win-or-bust driver in the last couple of weeks. I still think he is the fastest man in the field when it comes down to one lap, and he showed that with his brilliant double pole in Baku. It’s the level of incident that has raised eyebrows. ![]()
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