For Charles Leclerc, the Miami Formula 1 GP was somewhat chaotic, and he saw a possible victory slip away, even after leading at the start. The Ferrari driver preferred to take responsibility for the result.
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The Monegasque started third and took the lead in the first corners, after mistakes by rivals, entering the direct fight for victory. However, a series of decisions and incidents took away any chance of a podium.
Leclerc lost ground after an early stop on lap 21, when the team tried to respond to George Russell’s pit stop from Mercedes. The strategy did not work, and the driver also faced a slow pit stop, besides being stuck behind the Briton for several laps, losing important time while trying to overtake.
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Despite recovering and fighting for third place with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, the situation worsened on the final lap. Leclerc spun at turn 3 and hit the wall, damaging the car. Unable to maintain the pace, he was overtaken by Russell and Max Verstappen, crossing the finish line only in sixth position. With difficulties in right-hand corners, he also cut trajectories and received a twenty-second penalty, dropping to eighth place, behind teammate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
After the race, the Monegasque driver downplayed the impact of the strategy on the result: “I think that without the mistake at the end I could have gotten a podium, more than because of the strategy. It’s easy to blame the strategy, but after a while, even with the best strategy, with that mistake of mine on the last lap I probably wouldn’t be on the podium. First I will look at myself, then I will talk to the team to improve what was not optimized,” he concluded.
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