Leclerc disagrees with Verstappen: 'I know I'm an outsider'

While Max Verstappen explained that the regulations still feel the same after the first tweaks introduced for Miami, Leclerc said it was a step in the right direction. He explained to GPblog, among others: "The battles in itself, I don't think those changed massively. In qualifying, some things changed. Then the regulation will remain the regulations. I mean, we cannot do a revolution in the middle of the year. But it was a step on the right direction. A little bit, yes. It was a little bit better to drive naturally."

Previously, Verstappen also compared racing to Mario Kart. According to Leclerc, racing is not as bad as others describe it. He continued: "I’ve always disagreed a little bit with that. I know I'm a bit of an outsider on the grid but I felt that at least for the fights I've had with the guys in front, when you’ve got cars that have a system in a similar way to yours, actually the overtaking is really good. It's a bit more strategic than last year.

Still, he believes it can still be improved. "Yeah, surely there's still to fine-tune the system, ways to try and use the system in a better way and optimise that. It's not always natural what you've got to do inside the car. So yeah, there's still some improvements to be made."