Charles Leclerc, a bittersweet second place finish
Starting from pole position, Charles Leclerc was unable to convert his first place on the grid into a victory. The Monegasque driver finished second, but made a few avoidable mistakes.
The momentum is on Red Bull’s side right now. After his victory in Imola, Max Verstappen repeated his success in Miami. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, was unable to assert himself and sees the Dutchman closing the gap.
However, the Monegasque had a good start, holding onto the lead of the Grand Prix, while Verstappen overtook Sainz in the very first corner for second place. On the eighth lap, the defending champion closed in on the Ferrari and Leclerc missed his braking point in the challenging turn 17. Verstappen took advantage of this to get even closer to the Monegasque’s rear wing and overtook him with the help of DRS on the following straight.
Leclerc immediately tries to catch up with his rival, but his tires wear out quickly and he struggles to keep them in the right temperature. In the end, Verstappen builds a lead of over 4 seconds by the time of the first pit stop, which turns into a 7-second advantage after switching to hard tires in the 25th lap.
Charles Leclerc manages to keep up with the pace of the Red Bull on these new tires and the gap remains unchanged during the following fifteen laps, until the Safety Car caused by the collision between Gasly and Norris. The Monegasque driver stays on track and decides not to take advantage of a free pit stop to switch to softer tires. This strategy is logically imitated by Verstappen, but raises questions. The gap between Leclerc and Sainz seemed sufficient for the Monegasque driver to change tires without losing positions.
The Dutch driver makes a good recovery and Leclerc cannot try his luck. Despite spending ten laps in the DRS zone of the Red Bull, the Monegasque cannot attack, limited by the difference in straight-line top speed between the two cars, which reduces the advantage of the DRS for the Ferrari. Charles Leclerc has to settle for second place, powerless.
Thanks to Verstappen’s two retirements early in the season, the Ferrari driver maintains a comfortable lead over his closest competitor with 19 points ahead. However, the gap is narrowing as the defending champion has just scored 60 points in two Grand Prix races compared to Leclerc’s 33. The Monegasque driver will need to react quickly to avoid letting Verstappen get too close.
