Charles Leclerc believes McLaren’s impressive pace surge at the Miami Grand Prix stems from the team finally optimizing a package that was always capable of front-running performance. The Ferrari driver’s comments came after Lando Norris secured sprint pole position on Friday, delivering a stunning lap that put him two-tenths ahead of championship leader Kimi Antonelli and marking a dramatic turnaround for the Woking-based squad.
The McLaren resurgence represents a significant shift in the Formula 1 pecking order, with Norris having struggled to factor in the fight for victories during the season’s opening rounds. While teammate Oscar Piastri managed to secure a podium finish at the previous race in Japan, Friday’s performance in Miami with McLaren’s upgraded package suggests the team has made a substantial step forward from their earlier showings this year.
Leclerc, who qualified fourth for the sprint race, theorized that McLaren’s early-season struggles were more about execution than raw pace. “McLaren did a very big step forward, but I felt like they didn’t really optimize their first races of the season,” the Ferrari driver explained. “So they were always there, but they didn’t put everything together.” His assessment suggests the British team possessed competitive machinery from the start but failed to extract its full potential until now.
Despite McLaren’s qualifying dominance, Leclerc remains confident Ferrari can challenge in race conditions, citing tire management issues that affected their sprint qualifying performance. The Monégasque driver noted that while the medium compound worked well for Ferrari, the soft tires presented handling difficulties. “We know that in the race pace, we are stronger,” Leclerc reflected, expressing optimism about Ferrari’s chances of fighting back to the front during the sprint race and potentially the main grand prix qualifying session.