F1 News
Leclerc explains how he can beat Verstappen in Miami: 'I need to do this"
Charles Leclerc once again finished in P2 in qualifying. As a result, the Monegasque driver will have the chance to get past Max Verstappen into Turn 1, and even if the defending champion could fight him off, Leclerc believes he can challenge the Dutchman during Sunday's race.
After qualifying, Leclerc believes it was hard not to overheat the tyres. "I felt so much on the limit. Obviously, it was very close until Q3, where when we started to push for the last one or two tenths, we started to lose the tyres in Sector 2 and 3, overheating them quite a bit. Sector 1 was actually feeling really good. But then Sector 2 and 3, we were losing too much. So today, that's where we lost a little bit of time," the Ferrari driver said immedately after jumping out of his car on the grid.
How can Leclerc challenge Verstappen on Sunday?
"The race is long tomorrow. This morning we showed a good pace, so I hope tomorrow we can put Max under a bit more pressure," Leclerc said.
He also explained what he needs to do to put more pressure on his Dutch rival. "[Getting past Verstappen into Turn 1] and keeping the DRS. If we don't get past by Turn 1, DRS is super powerful here. And if we lose it after the first lap, then it's always difficult to come back within DRS, so we must not lose it. But first of all, there will be the start. This morning, we had a good one, and tomorrow I'll try to have an even better one."