A “horrendous” ride. Leclerc’s fury after the last attempt in SQ3

Anger and hope Second row and fourth time, ahead of Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton, but behind the two McLarens and Kimi Antonelli. Charles Leclerc’s Sprint qualifying was decent from the point of view of the final result, with the confirmation of an SF26 absolutely competitive with Mercedes and also with the very fast McLaren that reappeared in Miami, but the Monegasque showed all his disappointment at the end of the session. In fact, Leclerc, after having achieved the best time in FP1 and having shown great speed in the first two qualifying rounds, was convinced that he could place his red car on the front row. His gap from Antonelli, second, was a tenth and a half, but probably the entire gap was accumulated by Leclerc in the tortuous stretch between turn 11 and turn 16. The replays broadcast on TV in fact showed some lack of precision on the part of the #16 who also indulged in some gestures of disappointment on his return lap. A “horrendous” ride The Ferrari driver, as always hypercritical of himself, defined it as “horrendous!” your lap by speaking via radio with your track engineer Bryan Bozzi. A comment that testifies to Leclerc’s perfectionism, but also his hunger. Beating Norris’ time would probably have been difficult, but today the front row could have been reached with a perfect lap. This regret, however, gives Ferrari fans hope for the Sprint and above all for the ‘highlight’ part of the weekend with qualifying and the race. In fact, the impression is that this Ferrari can challenge Mercedes and McLaren on equal terms.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News
2026-05-02 07:32:00