Charles Leclerc demands answers after Ferrari Miami F1 drop-off

Charles Leclerc has called on Ferrari to investigate its worrying performance drop-off during the Miami Grand Prix.

Expectations were high for Ferrari as it brought a major upgrade package to Miami following F1’s enforced five-week break, but it ended up being an underwhelming weekend performance-wise for the Italian outfit.

Lewis Hamilton could only manage sixth in his heavily-damaged Ferrari while early race-leader Leclerc finished P6 on the road after a late spin, before picking up a 20-second penalty that dropped him to eighth.

After the race, Leclerc demanded answers for Ferrari’s lack of performance.

“On the medium we weren’t strong. We were degrading a massive amount,” Leclerc told media including Crash.net.

“On the hard, it wasn’t great at the beginning but then it picked up and was a little bit better, but it was never at the level of Saturday.

"We need to look at it. We lost a lot of performance from then, and I would like to understand exactly what happened there.”

While Leclerc insisted Ferrari’s new updates worked as expected, he suspects rival F1 teams simply did a better job.

McLaren’s revised MCL40 was particularly strong, as the reigning world champions won the sprint race before securing second and third place in the main race.

“The upgrade package is working, and the thing is that the others are pushing as well, and probably their upgrade package was a little bit better,” Leclerc added.

“We’ve got other things coming soon, and hopefully that will help us to get back a little bit in front. It’s fine details, but with this generation of cars, especially in this first year, it will all be about the development.

“So we have to make sure we do everything perfect in terms of development.”

The result leaves Leclerc third in the drivers’ championship, 41 points behind leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Leclerc is also just eight points clear of Lando Norris and Ferrari team-mate Hamilton.