John N
Ferrari appeared unable to match Red Bull’s pace at the Miami Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen overtaking Charles Leclerc to claim a dominant victory. However, Leclerc is not worried by the pace of their rivals’ car.
After initially taking the lead of the race from pole position, Leclerc’s chances of victory seemed to slip away when Verstappen overtook him in the early stages of the event. The Dutchman had a mostly unchallenged drive to his third win of the season, further cutting into Leclerc’s advantage at the top of the World Championship standings.
Ferrari appeared unable to match the pace of the RB18 at the Miami International Autodrome, but this has not left Leclerc overly worried.
“The concern is not there,” the Monegasque told media, including rallyislife.com.
“Of course, they’ve been improving. I think we all expected them to improve. They are a very strong team, and we know this, so it’s not a surprise.
Leclerc is confident that his team can bounce back once new updates for their car are delivered. “I’m sure that we will bring upgrades that will [bring] us back to the top,” he said. “We’re working well, and we’ve been working very well in recent years to get back on top, so I hope those upgrades will help us rechallenge Red Bull.”
When asked whether there was a moment in the Monaco Grand Prix where he thought his Ferrari could win, Leclerc said, “Honestly, maybe just after the safety car. I thought that would have been probably an opportunity to go for it. There was no drag reduction system, making our life a bit harder.
But apart from that on the medium (tire), I think it was pretty clear they were stronger. But on the hard (tire), I knew we had the pace to challenge them. But, obviously, with the gap that there was after the medium stints, I knew that it would be tough to come back. But with a Safety Car for two or three laps, I believed in it. After [that], once [the] DRS (Drag Reduction System) was activated, it was already starting to be better and better for Max.”
