“Angry” Leclerc admits he took too much risk with “very aggressive set-up” · RaceFans

Charles Leclerc said he was angry with himself after crashing out of qualifying, leaving himself seventh on the grid for the Miami Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver has had two crashes in as many days at the Miami International Autodrome. He went off in the fast left-hander of turns six, seven and eight during second practice yesterday, damaging the front of his car.

Leclerc slipped up again in qualifying, spinning off at the same corner during Q3. Afterwards he told media including RaceFans “I’m very disappointed with myself – same mistake as yesterday in the same corner.”

He admitted he took too many chances in the session as he tried to bridge the gap between Ferrari and Red Bull.

“I know that qualifying is my strong point and obviously I am taking more risks in Q3,” said Leclerc. “That pays off nine times out of ten. But obviously this is a weekend where twice I put it in the wall and this is just not the level where I want to be.

“Again I’m just very disappointed with myself. I did a great lap in the first lap of Q3. But there’s no point to say that when you don’t finish the lap and you lock up in the last corner, and the second I put it in the wall. So again, really angry with myself.”

Conditions were particularly challenging in qualifying, as the recently relaid track surface gained grip quickly, and gusting winds caught out several drivers. Leclerc said that exposed a particular weakness in Ferrari’s SF-23.

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“We know we have a weakness in terms of tailwind,” he said. “Whenever we have tailwind we suffer more from other cars.

“But I wanted that car to be very tricky because I knew that’s the way you need to drive this car. And today it was too much.”

“I put myself also in a difficult situation because I wanted a very aggressive set-up for qualifying, knowing that this was a set up I will need to extract the most out of the car,” he explained. “I probably did a step too far and this is something I’ll look at after the weekend.”

Leclerc took pole position for both of last weekend’s races at Baku City Circuit, but also crashed during one of those sessions. However he said the mistakes he made today were different, and angered him more.

“When I look at Baku, honestly, yes it is a mistake the second lap, I knew that the tyres were overheated so it’s not the same. These mistakes this weekend I am much more angry with myself compared to Baku where I think I…