Un Busy Saturday, the one on American soil, both for the teams and for the 20 drivers. In fact, the second one was held Sprint Race of the season, which preceded of a few hours the qualification which has the task of determining the starting grid on Sunday. After an excellent second place in the Sprint, Charles Leclerc he managed to grab second position during qualifying for the Miami GP.
Leclerc second in qualifying for the Miami GP
The Monegasque driver of the Ferrari spent i 19 laps of the Sprint behind the leader of the championship, Max Verstappen. The qualifications for the Miami GP constitute for Leclerc the opportunity to conquer pole position – which he has been missing since Austin 2023 – and therefore have a free track in Sunday's race.
After a fantastic time of 1:27.533 obtained from number #16 in Q2, the possibility of seeing him on the front row again didn't seem that far away. On the first shot of Q3 Leclerc comes in second place at 0.141 s from three times World Champion. But then, during the second attempt, Charles loses the rear end between turns 14 and 15, leaving important thousandths on the road. He thus crosses the finish line without managing to improve on the previous time, but second place still remains his.
“Maybe I exaggerated a little”
"We were very on the edge and very close (to Verstappen, ed.). We were like that until Q3 when we started pushing for those last 2 tenths and we started to lose the tires a bit in the second and third sectors due to overheating“, Leclerc said in post interviews qualifications of the Miami GP. He continued by saying: “In the second lap of Q3 I tried to gamble everythingBut obviously I exaggerated a little. The race is tomorrow, this morning we showed a good pace and I hope I can put a little more pressure on Max ".
In the Sprint the Monegasque started alongside Verstappen, almost overtaking him in Turn 1. When asked if this will be the same approach he will use for the start of the race, Charles replies: “If we can't pass Max at the first corner it is important to stay in the DRS area. The DRS here is very powerful and if we lose it after the first lap it is difficult to get back into the zone".
