Charles Leclerc says that Ferrari’s upgrades for the Miami Grand Prix won’t place it in contention for victories, but will push it “in the right direction”.
Ferrari has failed to start the 2023 campaign off the front-running pace but scored its first pole position and podium of the year through Leclerc last time out in Baku.
Team Principal Frederic Vasseur declared that upgrades would be brought to Miami this weekend, with smaller updates planned for the following European rounds.
As it looks to close in on the dominant Red Bull team, which has taken all four grand prix wins on offer this year, Leclerc is confident that it will be on the right track at Miami.
“[It] should go in the right direction; I don’t think it will be enough to fight with them but yeah, it will go in the right direction, I’m sure,” he said of the upgrades.
Ferrari’s difficult start to the 2023 campaign was particularly disappointing as it entered the year hoping to challenge for the title after its strong early-2022 form withered away as the season progressed.
Leclerc endured two non-finishes in the first three races, while Carlos Sainz has struggled to match the outright pace of his Moneasque team-mate.
Leclerc says that prior to his third-place finish at Azerbaijan, the season couldn’t have commenced in a more difficult fashion.
“Yeah, it was good. After the first three races it was really bad,” he said.
“We obviously were very unlucky in Bahrain, being in third and having that technical issue already a penalty for the second race.
“And then the DNF with the incident with Lance in Australia, so it couldn’t be worse. But in Azerbaijan, it went really well. We had our first pole which is great.
“I think it confirms how strong a car we have, especially in qualifying but then in the race we confirmed a little bit our weaknesses that we still need to work on our race pace as the Red Bull is just too strong for now.”
