Leclerc: The car is not even from corner to corner

The Charles Leclerc started the Miami Grand Prix from seventh on the grid is his own fault, but that he couldn't race to higher than his starting position has to be the fault of his SF-23.

The last time Leclerc saw old rival Max Verstappen - starting from ninth - was on lap four when the latter pulled off a double overtake over the former who was busy fighting with Haas' Kevin Magnussen, a fight that featured for most of the race.

So bad was the situation that a Ferrari driven by Leclerc was struggling to pass a Haas. Kudos to Magnussen of course for the work he did, but a Haas should not be an issue for a Ferrari.

Speaking to the media after the race, Leclerc explained his struggled with the car, he said: "The car is, not even from corner to corner.

"It is just, in the same corner, I can have a huge oversteery balance and then a huge understeery balance and our car is so wind-effected, other than that, for some reason this is an off because it is not something I have had for the rest of the weekend so we’ll have to check the car," he explained.

Leclerc reported during the race that his SF-23 was bouncing all over the place; he later reflected in Ferrari's post race brief: "I had a lot of bottoming especially in high speeds which is something I can’t quite explain because I didn’t have that yesterday. So, this we’ll have a look at in the data."

Later, in Ferrari's post race media brief; Leclerc said: "I had to just focus on bringing the car home, so overall it was not a great race.

"We have to work on understanding why we are so competitive in qualifying and off the pace in the race. We will keep pushing and hopefully, with the upgrades we have coming, we can make a step forward," he concluded.

Carlos Sainz had a slightly better race from third on the grid, but could only finish fifth, while also being slapped with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane, not that the penalty made any difference.

In the end, the Spaniard was beaten by Mercedes' George Russell to fourth; he reflected on his race: "It was a tough race for us.

"My first stint on the Medium was good, but we tried to undercut Fernando early and I had to push the Hards too much immediately after coming out of the pits in order to get through the traffic.

"I think we paid the price for that a bit, but in general we clearly struggle with race pace. It’s frustrating, but we’ll keep working on a solution and I’m confident that we can progress as a team for the next races," Sainz concluded.

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur summed up his team's afternoon in Miami; he said: "Once again today, the significant difference between the SF-23’s performance level in qualifying and the race was clear to see.

"Both Carlos and Charles found the car hard to drive and that is reflected in the result. Carlos was competitive in the first stint but then struggled quite a lot to run at a consistent pace after switching to the Hards, while Charles found it difficult on the Medium in the opening laps and only got into a good rhythm in the final stages.

"Therefore, finding some consistency in the car’s performance has to be our number one priority, especially in terms of tyre management, so that the confidence the drivers have in qualifying can be replicated in the race.

"We will now be continuing to work flat out in Maranello on developing updates as well as on optimising the car package, with the aim of already getting more out of it at the next race in front of our tifosi in Imola," the Frenchman concluded.

(Additional reporting by Agnes Carlier)