Charles Leclerc puzzled by Ferrari drop off as pace concerns linger in Miami

Leclerc secured P3 on the grid but cut a frustrated figure after the session, with Ferrari unable to match the pace of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli on pole and a resurgent Red Bull of Max Verstappen alongside him on the front row.

“At the end of the day, we were just not fast enough today,” said the Monegasque, pointing to an inconsistency in car behaviour compared to earlier sessions, raising questions about whether Ferrari had fully understood the impact of track evolution and changing conditions.

“Not much has changed on the car, but the feeling was not the same for sure,” Leclerc said. “So we’ll have to look into it.”

Ferrari had shown encouraging signs earlier in the weekend after introducing a significant upgrade package, but Leclerc said the balance became increasingly difficult to manage: “The wind is definitely a factor. Especially in some corners, there were big differences from lap to lap, so it was tricky to put everything together.”

Leclerc added that pushing harder in the decisive sessions may have exposed underlying weaknesses in the package: “Maybe by just pushing a little bit more today in qualifying, the weaknesses of the car were a bit more apparent. We need to understand where we lost the most time.”

While Ferrari continue to search for answers, Leclerc acknowledged the step forward made by Red Bull, who returned to the front row after a difficult start to the season: “They brought a significant upgrade and they are a great team,. We expected a reaction, but it’s a very impressive one.”

Despite the uncertainty over outright pace, Leclerc said changing weather conditions in Sunday’s race could open the door for Ferrari to challenge: “It looks wet. Then how much and when is still to be defined.”

Ferrari teammate Hamilton offered summed up his day: “Qualifying was an improvement for us,. We made a lot of changes to the car ahead of the session and it felt much better, particularly through Q2, where things were looking strong. Q3 was more difficult and I wasn’t able to extract the maximum performance, so there’s still more to come.”

Hamilton added that the team’s recent development push was beginning to show signs of progress: “I’m really grateful to the whole team for the hard work they’ve been putting in to bring these upgrades and keep pushing us forward.

"We’ve taken a step in the right direction, and now the focus is on continuing to work together to unlock more from the car," explained Hamilton, who will line-up P6 on the grid.

Team principal Fred Vasseur said fluctuating performance across sessions reflected how early teams still are in understanding the new generation of cars.

The Frenchman said: “We saw a completely different result compared to yesterday, which shows that we are all still at a similar stage in our understanding of the cars, as the regulations, the tyres and especially energy deployment are not straightforward,” he said.

“The key is to stay consistent, keep scoring good points and, step by step, build our understanding without leaving anything on the table. I feel we are gradually improving and, starting from the second row, anything is possible," added Vasseur.

With rain forecast and teams still learning how the 2026 cars behave in such conditions, Ferrari may yet find opportunity in unpredictability as they look to turn a frustrating qualifying into a stronger race result.