Leclerc admits Ferrari are 'maximising the potential of the car' but can only take P8

14:24, 04 May

byOlly Darcy

A frustrated Charles Leclerc has admitted that Ferrari have "maximised the potential of the car" but they are "not fast enough" after he could only qualify in P8 during qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix.

The Monegasque had a Saturday to forget around the Miami International Autodrome, crashing out in the wet on the lap to the grid before the sprint race even got underway to start Saturday's proceedings.

After his Scuderia mechanics worked extremely hard to get his car fixed and back out onto the track for qualifying, he was able to get into Q3, unlike his teammate Lewis Hamilton, but despite getting as much out of his SF-25 as he could, he could only come P5.

Leclerc's tough Saturday in Miami highlights his struggles, with only 47 points from the first five races achieved, while Ferrari sits P4 in the constructors' standings, such are their issues

Leclerc behind Williams depite thinking his lap was "a good one"

"In qualifying, we are just not fast enough," Leclerc bluntly stated.

"We've got to analyse, there was something strange on our side, I had to massively change the car, the tools and everything in order to have a kind of balance that I like. It was very different. So we've got to look into it to understand what happened.

"The mechanics have done an incredible job putting everything on [after the sprint crash], and to be honest, we've changed a few things on the car as well in terms of setup. It's unclear to me whether the set of changes had a much bigger impact than what I thought or whether there's something off. But this will look tonight," continued the Mongasque.

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The lack of worrying pace of the SF-25 has been a worrying sign for the Scuderia so far in 2025, and in Florida, it looks like those worries are at their highest levels.

"It is frustrating. But to be honest, this weekend, I feel like it's probably even more so frustrating because I feel we are maximising the potential of the car," admitted Leclerc.

"It's just that the potential of the car is not there. When I finish a lap, again today in qualifying, I feel very satisfied with my lap, but it's only bringing us P8 or something. So yeah, we've got to look at it.

"I think a track like this also highlights our weaknesses. There are a lot of low-speed corners. Both Williams are in front of us, and I consider my lap a good one. So I think it's pretty easy to understand where we are lacking," concluded the 27-year-old.