Leclerc blames himself: "My mistake throws all the team's work away."

Charles Leclerc will have experienced a rollercoaster of emotions during the Miami Grand Prix this Sunday. First, by leaping forward as often happens at the start to take the lead, while Max Verstappen lost control of his Red Bull behind him. Then by fighting, first with Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris, then at the end of the race against Oscar piastri, returned thanks to slightly fresher hard tires after a long first stint.

In Formula 1 In a Grand Prix that has become extremely tactical, with energy management a crucial part of the equation, Leclerc seemed to have made the right gamble by not activating his front and rear wings on the straight before the final corner on the penultimate lap. The Monegasque driver's strategy was simple: force Piastri to overtake him, thus enabling him to use the overtake mode on the final lap, granting him a boost of energy, to snatch a podium finish from the Australian.

Unfortunately, on the third bend, the Classic Ferrari for sale went into a spin before lightly touching the wall. Damaged, the SF-26 was overtaken in the last two corners by George Russell and Max Verstappen, crossing the finish line in sixth place. As is often the case, Charles Leclerc was very hard on himself, speaking to Canal+: "Clearly, today my mistake throws all the team's work away, and I need to be very hard on myself to make sure it doesn't happen again."

The driver in car number 16 confirmed that the absence of active aerodynamics was entirely planned, as evidenced once the McLaren Number 81 passed before braking, the Ferrari's wings briefly activated: “It was part of the strategy, but the strategy didn’t work. If I stayed ahead, I was pretty sure Oscar would overtake me because they were too fast on the straights and especially in the second sector, which was my strength at the start of the race. With worn tires, I no longer had that strength, so I knew I had to go into overtake mode. It worked as expected, but then I made a mistake, so that threw all my efforts to the limit.”

The Ferrari championship leader offered an explanation for his mistake at the start of the final lap, but his comments did not excuse what he considered a blunder. Always generous in his effort, Leclerc gave too much in an attempt to climb back onto a podium position he had held for almost the entire race.

“I gave it my all. I knew it was going to be crucial to have the overtake mode for the last lap. I also knew our deployment wasn't very good coming out of Turn 3 compared to the McLaren. Of course, none of that excuses the mistake I made, because I only have myself to blame. I was lucky to finish the race because it could very easily have ended there. Instead of finishing fourth, we finished sixth. I'm very disappointed with my performance; honestly, it's been a very good start to the season, and a very good race overall. Unfortunately, the mistake on the last lap was a big one—too much optimism on the throttle, trying to stay with Oscar because I really wanted to get back on the podium. It's been on the limit since the start of the season; it's happened several times, but today it didn't, and it can't happen again.”

To make matters worse, a drive-through penalty, converted into a 20-second penalty, was handed to the Monegasque driver for gaining an advantage by cutting track limits. He ultimately finished eighth, behind Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto.

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