Miami Grand Prix

Leclerc writes off Ferrari - 'Red Bull is in a league of its own'

Leclerc has conceded Ferrari cannot match Red Bull across a race distance

Sam Hall

Saturday 6 May 2023 15:57

Charles Leclerc has written off Ferrari's chance of disrupting Red Bull's victory streak at the Miami Grand Prix.

The Monegasque interrupted Red Bull's dominance of the season by taking pole position for both the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the preceding Sprint.

But he was unable to provide a threat in either race, with Sergio Perez ensuring that he and team-mate Max Verstappen remained the only drivers to top the order across longer distances.

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"I think the feeling is pretty good over one lap," said Leclerc, who ended Friday practice third fastest.

"Over the race, we are so far behind. Red Bull is again in a league of its own, very far in front.

"In the race, we definitely have a lot of time to find. But in qualifying pace, we are more or less there."

Asked what could be done to close this margin, Leclerc added: "In terms of race pace, I don't think we have any miracle in hand to close the gap, so I don't think we will be much closer coming to Sunday."

Leclerc explains FP2 crash

Leclerc caused the red flags to fly late in Friday's second session after losing the rear of his Ferrari at Turn Six and sliding into the walls one corner later.

"There is not much to talk about," said Leclerc. "I pushed too much but it's like this.

"Overall, it is very tricky because there is only one line and whenever you get off-line, there is really poor grip and that is what basically happened.

"I pushed a bit too much, I lost the rear and tried to recover from it but I had no grip to turn the car. That was it.

"No big damage. Obviously, the front right is gone but apart from that, no damage to the rear of the car, which is the most important thing."