Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc believes overcoming his recent one-lap struggles to qualify in second place for Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix Sprint will “stop people talking”.
Leclerc has been acclaimed as a low-fuel specialist since his promotion to Ferrari in 2018, but he has encountered trouble on that side with Ferrari’s 2024 challenger.
Having out-qualified team-mate Carlos Sainz last time out in China, Leclerc rebounded from a spin curtailing his participation in FP1 to land a front-row starting spot.
Leclerc admitted he was relieved the work he has put in behind the scenes to reverse his fortunes has paid dividends as he wound up a tenth behind Max Verstappen.
Asked whether he was pleased with his effort amid his start to the weekend, Leclerc said: “I am, because qualifying has been the weak point for two races in a row.
“At one point China was a little bit better, but we didn’t have the car to show that.
“And on such a difficult weekend, because I did one lap in FP1, so I had to go in quali and go straight flat out.
“We are allowed to use one set of tyres in SQ1, so it was very, very tricky, but straight away I felt the feeling and the hard work that I’ve done earlier in the season to try and put the tyres in the right window have paid off.
Leclerc also acknowledged how short-termism is present in the sport and how he was satisfied to end up back the right side of that line with his impressive rebound.
“So I’m happy because there are so many talks now and you are as good as your last race in this sport and obviously when you have two races in a row where you are bad in qualifying, which I haven’t done a great job, people start to talk, so it’s good to stop that,” he continued.
“But now I obviously need to work in the consistency and try to stay at that level and put those tyres consistently in the right window, as I’ve done in the past.”
The Monegasque conceded that he had no predictions for the truncated Sprint race tomorrow as his incident in practice meant he was limited to completing one lap.
Pressed on what he can achieve tomorrow in the race, Leclerc responded: “A P1! I have no idea about our race pace, we didn’t do many laps.
“I mean I did one lap so I have no idea about our race pace, but I really hope we can have a good sprint and have a good race pace to have hopes for the win on Sunday.”
