Horror finish for the Monegasque
Charles Leclerc had started the Miami GP perfectly by avoiding the chaos around him and taking the lead of the race. The Mercedes-powered horses then pushed him back to what seemed like a final third position after recovering the podium at the expense of Max Verstappen, who had disrupted the strategy by anticipating the switch to hard tires by taking advantage of the Safety Car.
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Oscar Piastri, however, caught up with Charles Leclerc in the final stages, who during the last lap spun in Turn 3 damaging his Ferrari SF-26. The Monegasque finished in sixth position, but could be penalized for the domino effect caused by the error involving track cuts and contacts at the end (specifically with George Russell).
“There were no problems with the wing – Leclerc admitted frankly to Sky – the idea was to let Piastri pass to have the overtake, I wasn’t strong enough in the second sector, I didn’t have any more tire there, so I knew having this overtake in the last corner was the thing to do, unfortunately afterwards I managed turns 1-2-3 very badly, it’s an unacceptable mistake, it was an almost perfect start to the season, I can’t afford this mistake, so I’m very angry, I’m very disappointed in myself, until that point it was a very good race, the pace wasn’t there, but we had done our best, I’m disappointed. The team worked hard and on the last lap I threw everything in the trash.”
Read more Ferrari calls Leclerc to the pits, Charles via radio: “Why did we stop?”
Leclerc during the race had asked for explanations about the pit stop without prior consultation: “We need to manage some things a bit better, but in the end we had maximized the result until what was my mistake.”
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