Despite claiming the final podium spot in the McLaren-dominated 2026 F1 Miami GP Sprint Race, Charles Leclerc expressed disappointment with his P3 result, highlighting that there is more potential in the SF-26.
Ferrari is one of the few teams that brought significant upgrades to Miami, and they showed promise early on. In FP1, Leclerc found himself constantly improving throughout the extended 90-minute session, finally topping the timesheets with an encouraging time of 1:29.310.
Later, in Sprint Qualifying, Q1 and Q2 also proved strong, with Leclerc posting fast times. However, a drop in performance in Q3 left him P4. Leclerc later explained that the qualifying issues stemmed from his struggle with the soft tires.
Leclerc looks to improve
At lights out, Kimi Antonelli‘s slow start allowed the Monegasque driver to make up for his qualifying problems by moving up to P3. Leclerc made several attempts to chase down McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, closing down the gap to 0.6s at one stage. Though ultimately he was unable to maintain the pressure, settling for P3 and finishing 6.251s behind race winner Lando Norris.
Speaking after the 2026 F1 Miami GP Sprint Race, Leclerc noted that he expected a better result and hopes to come back stronger in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
“Yeah, no, the upgrades worked well,” he shared. “I mean, it’s thanks to the team that has done a massive work over these five weeks of break, I am satisfied with that.
“Unfortunately, I’m not satisfied with P3, though. Obviously, we wish we were a little bit higher, but McLaren brought significant upgrades as well and did a big step forward, but we are not too far. So, I think for tomorrow, if we put everything together, maybe we can start a bit higher and that will make our life a little bit easier.”
