A frustrated Charles Leclerc has hit out at the inconsistency of the Ferrari SF-23 in race trim after a miserable 2023 Miami Grand Prix weekend.
The Monegasque lined up seventh after crashing in qualifying on his second flying run and failed to make any inroads over 57 laps of Sunday’s GP.
“We have been really struggling all day. It’s a very similar picture to the beginning of the year, we are competitive in qualifying and once it comes to race day we are struggling like crazy,” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.
“The window of our car is so narrow and whenever you get a little bit out it has huge consequences on the balance.
“It’s from one corner to the other and even in one corner sometimes you can have huger understeer, which goes to huge oversteer.
“This is obviously not ideal to have confidence in the car, plus I had a lot of bottoming today for some reason, which I don’t have an explanation for yet.
“We’ll have to check the car. The consistency is what we’re lacking at the moment and we’ll try and work for that.”
Other cars catching up
Leclerc finished more than 50 seconds behind Max Verstappen, despite starting two places ahead of the Dutchman.
While that is obviously concerning for Ferrari and their hopes of ending their title drought, which is now certain to extend into 2024, the Scuderia’s position as best of the rest is under serious threat following a dismal start this season.
Leclerc finished behind Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, as well as Mercedes‘ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, while Ferrari are fourth in the constructors’ championship.
“We have a lot of work to do like I said,” Leclerc added. “We have to find something now. We are struggling in the race for a little bit of time so we need to come up with solutions.
“The Mercedes‘ are quick, the Aston Martins are really quick in the race, the Alpine didn’t look too bad in the race. We have a lot of work to do.”
