Charles Leclerc: Tires overheated and lost grip

Charles Leclerc set the second fastest time in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, losing to pole position holder Max Verstappen by 0.141 seconds. Immediately after the session, the Monegasque said he could not go faster due to overheating of the tires, but he expected to fight for victory in the race.

His teammate Carlos Sainz qualified third and added that the session was difficult due to gusty winds.

Charles Leclerc (2nd): “I felt like I had gotten everything out of the car. The battle was very exciting until the final, where I started to attack even harder to squeeze out the last one or two tenths, but in the second and third sectors the tires started to lose grip due to overheating.

I lost some time today, but there is a long race planned for Sunday. I had a good pace in the sprint, so I hope I can put more pressure on Max. If I can’t overtake him at the start of Turn 1, it will be important to stay behind him in the DRS zone.

On this track DRS gives a big advantage and if I lose a lot of time on the first lap it will be very difficult to return to DRS, so it is important to keep up with Max.

But let’s start first. I had a good start in the sprint, but in the race I will try to make an even better start.”

Carlos Sainz (3rd): “I’m still a bit sorry that I couldn’t overtake Daniel Ricciardo in the sprint, but I know we have the speed on this circuit.

I knew that if I qualified properly, I would be in the top three. I rode a number of faultless laps. On this circuit it is quite difficult to drive with the new Soft set – every lap becomes a little adventure and because of the gusts of wind you don’t know how the car will behave. Taking all this into account, I was able to complete some good laps.

Every time you complete a lap you think you could have gone faster, but on this track it is almost impossible to do a perfect clear lap.”

Source: F1 News

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