Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz rage at 'HORRIBLE' Ferrari car after Miami misery

Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Screencap — Photo: © LAT Images

Ferrari

Ferrari drivers rage at 'HORRIBLE' car after Miami misery

Sainz finished fifth after a costly mistake while Leclerc was made to settle for seventh

Dan Davis

Monday 8 May 2023 10:57 Updated: 11:07

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Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz delivered a withering assessment of their cars after their struggles at the Miami Grand Prix.

Leclerc, who has endured a turbulent year to date and fallen short in his bid to fight for the drivers' championship crown, finished seventh at the Miami International Autodrome after qualifying in the exact same position.

He was unable to replicate the heroics of Max Verstappen, the eventual winner, too, with the world champion charging beyond him from his P9 start. The 25-year-old also struggled with visible tyre degradation in the early stages of the race.

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Speaking after his frustrating afternoon, Leclerc admitted that improvements are needed to help generate more consistency for a notoriously mixed ride.

'Impossible'

"We have a lot of work to do," he told the Italian broadcast after the race. "We have a super picky car, when you are in ideal conditions, the feeling is very good, but once you make a small mistake, the car is impossible to drive.

"I had to manage the tyres at the beginning of the race, which greatly affected me. We need a more consistent car. During the race, I go from one corner with an understeer to the next corner suddenly with an oversteer.

"Today there were so many problems. The car jumped so much and touched the floor a lot. It's a tough situation; seeing other cars overtake you because you need to manage the tyres is not beautiful, but unfortunately is the reality of the moment. It's a hard mentality, but we won't give up now."

Yeah, it was very difficult to drive," he added to Fox Sports Premium MX. "Bumping, sliding all over the place, vibrations in the turns, horrible."

Leclerc endured a disappointing afternoon after crashing twice ahead of the race

Inconsistent Ferrari 'difficult to drive'

Sainz, meanwhile, was hit with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane, having locked up in a cloud of smoke after looking to undercut Fernando Alonso.

After conceding he had only himself to blame for the costly mistake, he struck a similar tone to Leclerc, admitting the SF-23 is 'difficult to drive'.

"The pit lane entrance is my fault," he said. "I was pushing to overtake Alonso, and I didn't have enough time to slow down, but in the end, the penalty didn't cost us anything.

"We have to understand why the car is not consistent. The car is difficult to drive once you push with the tyres. We must know why we fight for pole on Saturday and then struggle on Sunday.

"We are in a position where we have to try different things to understand why we struggle so much in the race. From here to Barcelona, we will try several updates, but if there are no improvements, we will try to go in a new direction.

"Right now, we are fast in qualifying, but we have little flexibility on Sunday."