"Hopefully there will be an upgrade and hopefully it will be big enough to catch Red Bull in terms of race pace," says Leclerc after finishing second; Spanish Grand Prix is the next race on the calendar on weekend of May 20-22 with full coverage only on Sky Sports F1
Monday 9 May 2022 07:53, UK
Charles Leclerc has called on Ferrari to deliver "big" upgrades at the next Grand Prix in Spain after being outpaced by Max Verstappen in Miami.
The world championship leader started the inaugural Miami race in pole position, but was overtaken by the Red Bull after nine laps and, despite a fierce battle following a safety car in the closing stages, was unable to match Verstappen's pace.
His lead in the drivers' championship was slashed to 19 points and Leclerc, who complained during the race that his Ferrari was difficult to drive, is hoping for developments when Formula One resumes in Europe in two weeks' time.
"I cannot say much, but hopefully there will be an upgrade and hopefully it will be big enough to catch Red Bull in terms of race pace," he told Sky Sports.
"I think we know they are stronger than us in terms of race pace for now. We have maybe a slight advantage in qualifying and they do in the race.
"In the end, the race counts so we need to make sure we catch them back in the race."
Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz had locked out the front row in qualifying on Saturday - but Verstappen appears quicker once the tyres on his Red Bull have warmed up.
"On overall pace they were just stronger," Leclerc continued. "There is not much more to add.
"I think we are quite good with tyre warm-up - we are warming up quicker than they do after the safety car, after the pit stops and at the start - but then they seem to be stronger in the long term.
"After five or six laps they are very difficult to follow and that's where we lost the race.
"We have to try to understand what we can do better for Barcelona because it is definitely going to be a tyre management race there too."
Verstappen has now won all three of the races he has finished this season, but he also had a warning for his team following reliability issues earlier in the weekend.
After he failed to finish in Bahrain and Australia, hydraulic issues meant he only completed five laps in Miami on Friday before recovering from third in qualifying to win a race which saw the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez suffer power problems.
"I just need to finish all the time," Verstappen said.
"We really have to be on top (of our reliability issues) and try to have a clean weekend because then it would be even better.
"We have to try and make sure these things don't happen, but we are of course working on it flat out."
