Leclerc's race undermined by Ferrari car's 'inconsistencies'

Charles Leclerc endured a difficult Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, the Ferrari charger struggling all day with his SF-23's "inconsistencies" and an overall lack of pace.

There was no gain but there was a lot of pain for Leclerc in a race that he concluded in the position where he had started, in seventh place.

The Monegasque battled for many laps against Haas' Kevin Magnussen but also against his medium compound tyres, with degradation setting in during his first stint.

But Leclerc's main complaint was his car's unwavering lack of consistency in terms of its handling.

"I was just speaking just now with Carlos and what we are lacking is consistency in the car," he said after the race.

"It's not even from corner to corner, it's just in the same corner I can have a huge oversteer rebalance and then a huge understeer balance; our car is so wind affected."

• 2023 Miami Grand Prix - Race results

Leclerc also unexpectedly suffered from a bottoming phenomenon midway through his race that hindered his effort to defend P6 from Lewis Hamilton.

"I had a lot of bottoming, especially in the high speed, which is something I can't quite explain because I didn't have that yesterday and neither had it before yesterday."

Leclerc acknowledged that the Ferrari's erratic behaviour in relation to its tyres was also eroding his confidence as a driver.

"Every single race, we are going from one compound to the other and we never know what's going to happen on the new compound," he explained.

"It's always whether the car is going to react well or whether the tyres are going to be in the right window.

"This is just very difficult also as a driver to gain the confidence and to adapt your driving, because you get from one set to the other and the car is

difficult."

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