Photo: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has looked like a true champion this year, yet there have been races where he’s been outdueled by the reigning world no.1, Max Verstappen. It happened again this past weekend in Miami, with Verstappen’s Red Bull looking quicker than the Ferrari late in the Grand Prix.
Miami marked Verstappen’s second consecutive victory, following his win in Imola, with the Red Bull yet again outpacing the Ferrari in terms of straight-line speed. The Italian outfit hasn’t brought any major upgrades to its car, but changes should be coming, and Leclerc knows this all too well.
“We need to keep pushing,” said the Monegasque driver after finishing P2 in Miami. “Upgrades will be very important throughout the year. And I hope now that we can do a step up from the next race onwards. But it’s been tight since the beginning of the season.”
In Miami, Leclerc said that his hopes of winning the race were dashed in the first stint when he noticed he wasn’t as quick on the medium tires as Verstappen – despite the Ferrari doing a better job on the hard tires, as per Motorsport.
“We struggled quite a bit with the medium tires, especially in the first stint and got overtaken there,” he added.
“Then it made our race a bit more difficult from that moment onwards. On the hard, we were very competitive and towards the end, I thought I could get Max at one point. Today they had the advantage in terms of pace. But it was fun.”
By winning in Miami, Verstappen has closed the gap to Leclerc to just 19 points in the Driver’s Standings (104 pts Leclerc / 85 pts Verstappen). Things are even closer in the Constructors Standings, where Red Bull trail Ferrari by just 6 points.
The 2022 Spanish Grand Prix is up next at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday, May 22.
“We need to keep pushing,” said the Monegasque driver after finishing P2 in Miami. “Upgrades will be very important throughout the year. And I hope now that we can do a step up from the next race onwards. But it’s been tight since the beginning of the season.”
In Miami, Leclerc said that his hopes of winning the race were dashed in the first stint when he noticed he wasn’t as quick on the medium tires as Verstappen – despite the Ferrari doing a better job on the hard tires, as per Motorsport.
“We struggled quite a bit with the medium tires, especially in the first stint and got overtaken there,” he added.
“Then it made our race a bit more difficult from that moment onwards. On the hard, we were very competitive and towards the end, I thought I could get Max at one point. Today they had the advantage in terms of pace. But it was fun.”
By winning in Miami, Verstappen has closed the gap to Leclerc to just 19 points in the Driver’s Standings (104 pts Leclerc / 85 pts Verstappen). Things are even closer in the Constructors Standings, where Red Bull trail Ferrari by just 6 points.
The 2022 Spanish Grand Prix is up next at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday, May 22.
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