Oliver Oakes has resigned as Team Principal of the Alpine Formula 1 squad with immediate effect and Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore will take the role on an interim basis.

Oakes stepped into the role last August and oversaw a turnaround for Alpine as the Anglo-French squad rose from ninth to sixth in the Constructors’ standings.

Alas, Alpine, although fancied to do so, hasn’t pushed on from its strong end to the 2024 campaign,

The team sits ninth in the standings after six rounds with seven points, just one more than 10th-placed Sauber.

“BWT Alpine Formula One Team announces that Oliver Oakes has resigned from his role as Team Principal,” a statement released by Alpine on Tuesday read.

“The team has accepted his resignation with immediate effect.

“As of today, Flavio Briatore will continue as Executive Advisor and will also be covering the duties previously performed by Oliver Oakes.

“The team would like to thank Oliver for his efforts since he joined last summer and for his contribution in helping the team secure sixth place in the 2024 Constructors’ Championship.

“The team will not be making any further comment.”

Oakes is the third team boss to depart Alpine in the last two years, following Otmar Szafnauer and Bruno Famin.

Briatore was last a Team Principal in 2009, when his stewardship of the Alpine squad in its former Renault guise ended amid the ‘crashgate’ scandal.

READ MORE – Alpine boss Oliver Oakes stands by Jack Doohan amid Franco Colapinto rumours

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Red Bull boss Christian Horner said McLaren were “in a league of their own” as he measured his team’s race pace in comparison to the Woking outfit during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

For the third time in six rounds, Max Verstappen beat the McLarens to pole position in Miami.

However, in the race, things transpired far differently and the McLaren pace advantage over a GP distance was startling, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finishing half a minute ahead of the rest of the field.

Verstapen fended off Piastri for 14 laps and Norris for a further four, eventually succumbing to fourth with George Russell benefitting from a Virtual Safety Car to complete the podium.

Horner acknowledged post-race that Verstappen has what it takes to fight the McLarens over one-lap, and was surprised he kept the two MCL39s at bay for as long as he did in the GP, given the performance disparity in race pace.

“I think that theoretically if they’d have put their theoreticals together in qualy yesterday they should have been ahead of us,” Horner told select media including Motorsport Week. 

“I think Max did an outstanding job and was able to get every ounce of performance and arguably they underperformed yesterday, but we knew going into this race it was going to be very, very hard to beat them and I was actually surprised that Max was able to hold them back for circa 14 laps or 13. 

“I thought it was a very brave display, arguably that maybe hurt our own race because you’re fighting hard, your tyres are getting hot, but you’re leading the Grand Prix, you’ve got to go for it and I thought he did an outstanding job to keep Oscar behind as long as he did and then Lando.”

With temperatures running higher in the race, and thermal management being a particular weakness for Redf Bull, it was always going to be hard for Verstappen to keep the McLarens at bay.

Horner accepts that at the moment, race pace is a big advantage for Red Bull’s Woking-based rival.

“I think the advantage is bigger in the race isn’t it, because everything gets super hot in the race and run at a much bigger temperature, so the advantage will always be bigger in the race than it is in qualifying,” he continued.

“So yeah, obviously well done to McLaren, they were in a league of their own today, particularly with tyres running at the temperatures that they are, they definitely are doing a better job than the rest of the teams and had obviously a very competitive race.”

Horner compares McLaren advantage to Red Bull 2023

A one-two finish half a minute ahead of the rest of the field is clearly a dominant display.

Reflecting on McLaren’s strong showing, Horner implied that it was reminiscent of Red Bull’s efforts in 2023.

That campaign, the RB19 one all but one GP and had a similarly strong effort in Miami, where Verstappen and Segio Perez finished over 20 seconds ahead of the chasing pack.

“I think it’s important to understand obviously, I mean, McLaren are the standout car,” Horner said. 

“They had the kind of advantage that we saw a couple of years ago and they’re obviously doing a very good job in managing temperatures and particularly I think if you look on the medium stint there, at the end of the medium tyre stint, that was probably where they were the most competitive, so that’s what we need to focus on, I think we had brake issues that have compounded the problem in the race, but that’s what we need to understand moving forward.”

Moving forward, Horner hopes Red Bull can challenge McLaren and assessed things will change at each given venue, since Verstappen has been competitive, winning, or fighting for victories at circuits such as Albert Park, Suzuka and Jeddah.

But other circuits, like Miami, expose Red Bull’s weaknesses of tyre management and through corner balance, highlight the work that’s needed to be done.

“Well of course it varies from circuit to circuit, in the last race we had the pace to beat the McLarens, this race has exposed their advantage and they’ve been able to operate in a window that they’ve been very effective with,” Horner said. 

“So of course when you look at that performance, it feels like a lot to find but we’ve seen how quickly from circuit to circuit things can change and so obviously we know that the areas that we need to improve and they haven’t changed from before we arrived here.”

READ MORE – Andrea Stella hails McLaren mastering ‘black art’ of tyre management

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has backed McLaren amid concerns from rival Formula 1 teams that the MCL39 could be illegally approaching tyre management.

The McLaren MCL39 is the class-leader in tyre management through a race, especially in hot conditions.

The team’s race pace was also potent during the second half of the 2024 campaign, so much so that Red Bull accused the team of water injection to cool its tyres during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Pirelli and the FIA found no wrongdoing, but the saga itself has continued with Auto Motor und Sport reporting Red Bull monitored McLaren’s tyres with thermal imaging cameras.

Zak Brown responded in Miami with a water bottle on the pit-wall labelled ‘tyre cooling water’ and implied to The Telegraph that Red Bull should launch a formal protest if it’s truly concerned regarding the MCL39’s legality.

Wolff, however, holds no such concerns and believes it’s up to McLaren’s rivals to do a better job rather than pointing the finger.

“I think that the team around Zak [Brown], Andrea [Stella], Rob Marshall… these are good people with integrity,” he told the media, including Motorsport Week.

“If in the past, [we] often say: ‘Well, let’s look at whether there’s something borderline’, but I have no doubt that these guys [McLaren] stay within the rules.

“It’s just really good development [with] that car. They’ve understood how to manage the tyre much better than everybody else and, in my opinion, it’s totally legit.

“From a team management point of view, we should never when somebody is doing a better job than you, we should not look at that and say ‘cheating’, because that’s not the right attitude anyway.

“So we just need to become better, and eventually not get 30 or 35 seconds over 55 laps.”

Wolff calls for Mercedes to improve tyre management

Merecdes, like Red Bull, has kept McLaren on its toes during qualifying but the Miami GP was evidence that work needs to be done over a race distance.

George Russell, third behind the two McLaren drivers in Miami, finished half a minute behind Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

There’s no greater evidence there that Mercedes has work to do.

“We’re just not good on with the tyres on an extended run,” Wolff said.

“McLaren is showing how it can be done, and to a degree, I think that Red Bull, with Max, they’re managing it better.

“I would say we’re solid in what we’re doing, but they are definitely doing an excellent job by being able to go fast around the corners without overheating them.

“So this is what we need to look up to and engineer our way out.”

READ MORE – Toto Wolff backs Lewis Hamilton to rediscover ‘magic’ at Ferrari

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George Russell welcomed coming away with a podium in the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix after admitting to “struggling” throughout the entire weekend.

Russell was out-qualified by Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli across both Sprint and GP qualifying sessions as he struggled to get to grips with the Miami International Autodrome circuit.

In GP qualifying especially, Russell feared a Q2 exit before recovering to secure fifth place on the grid for last Sunday’s race.

A fortuitously timed Virtual Safety Car granted Russell a cheap pit-stop and leapfrogged him into podium contention in front of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

From there, Russell controlled his position to take a fourth podium in six races, underlining his consistent start to the campaign.

“Yeah, to be honest, really happy to come away with P3 because I’ve been struggling this weekend, personally, and always on the back foot,” Russell told Jenson Button in parc ferme.

“But ultimately, when it mattered, got a really good result today. But well done to the McLarens – they’re just down the road.”

Verstappen tried to come back at Russell later on and he acknowledged that it’s never easy keeping the Dutchman at bay whilst expressing delight to keep hold of third place.

“I was pretty calm and I felt really good with the car to keep him behind me, so it was good,” he concluded.

Why Russell skipped the Miami post-race press conference

Russell was expected to talk further on his race later on in the post-race FIA press conference, but the Mercedes driver was absent, due to ‘medical reasons.’

The Briton was fine in the end, but he had to skip out on the press conference and pay a visit to the medical centre with stomach cramps.

Speaking to F1 reporter Lawrence Barretto, Russell said, “I was enjoying it [the race] but for the last 15 laps I got this horrendous stomach cramp and I’m struggling a lot now.

“Like I can’t stand straight because my stomach is really causing me grief so I need to understand what went wrong there.

“I had a slightly bigger breakfast than normal so that might be the reason, but I feel like I’ve got… I don’t know what I’ve got in there.

“So I’m struggling a bit, but I’m going to take this result.”

READ MORE – George Russell had positive surprise despite ‘worst qualifying of 2025’ in Miami

The post George Russell happy to clinch Miami podium amid persistent struggles appeared first on Motorsport Week.

McLaren chief Andrea Stella has hailed the team’s engineers for the work they’ve done mastering Formula 1’s “black art” of tyre management.

The McLaren MCL39 hasn’t been unbeatable over a single lap so far in 2025, but it boasts by far the best race pace of any car in the field.

That’s due to its incredible feat of managing tyre degradation, which was used to devastating effect in the hot Miami Grand Prix temperatures.

A McLaren one-two at the Miami International Autodrome on Sunday, led by Oscar Piastri saw the papaya team clear the rest of the field by half a minute.

This led to Stella, usually coy on the team’s performance relative to the competition, to heap praise on the McLaren team for a job very well done.

“I think we have seen before, we have talked about this a few times now, that whenever the conditions are challenging for the tyres in terms of overheating in particular, then the car seems to be doing a good job on keeping the tyres in a very good window and the car is gentle on the tyres,” he told select media including Motorsport Week. 

“There’s very good engineering behind this, we have looked holistically at all the characteristics that you can have in a car that influence the behaviour of the tyres and I just want to take the opportunity to praise the work that has been done by the engineers at McLaren in terms of identifying these factors, designing these factors in a way that is practical to actually cash in this kind of benefit and then master one of the matters that still in F1 looks like it’s a little bit of a black art, which is dealing with tyres.”

Stella also praised the McLaren team for producing a car that can keep itself cool in hotter climates. 

“So, very proud of the team, very proud of our drivers that have been part of this process and I would say especially when it’s hot, there’s another characteristic which I think works very well with our car, which is the cooling system,” he added.

“I think when it’s hot, our car, you can see that it’s relatively closed from a bodywork point of view because there’s been also great engineering gone into the cooling system, car layout. 

“So, I think in these conditions we see that the excellence of the engineering at McLaren has reached a point where it can make the difference to this kind of extent.”

Managing tyre degradation in dirty air

Another impressive feat McLaren demonstrated was both drivers following Max Verstappen closely for several laps without suffering in the dirty air.

Piastri, in particular, was able to stalk Verstappen for the first 14 laps of the Miami GP before making his move to the front and had no trouble keeping the pace up to canter off into the distance.

Stella debated whether this was purely a feat of McLaren engineering, or contextualised by the Miami circuit characteristics.

“I think realistically the tyres will have suffered by following Max so closely,” he began. 

“I don’t know to what extent. But at the same time, I think once you get the benefit of free air leading the race, you get quite a bit of benefit. 

“So, we don’t know exactly how much in what we saw after overtaken Max. 

“There was a bit of a penalty because of having stayed behind Max, but then the benefit of leading the race in terms of tyre exploitation. 

“So, I’m not sure from a technical point of view how these two factors combined to each other, but clearly, I think after a few laps in the race, Oscar could benefit by quite a bit of an advantage compared to Max, and therefore it was relatively easy to stay with him.”

Stella argued that a performance delta was on display at Miami, making it easier for Piastri to pass the Red Bull. 

“Let’s say it was not one of those cases in which you need to use your tyres to the limit to be able to stay there and gain the DRS,” he explained. 

“It was relatively easy to gain the DRS, and at this track the DRS sections are so long that then you have a benefit from an overtaking point of view. 

“I think, you know, we went from a track… Even Saudi is relatively easy to overtake, but here overtaking is 30-40% easier when you take the lap time delta required to overtake another car. 

“So, you definitely have to lean less on the tyres to be able to complete the overtaking,” he concluded.”

READ MORE – Andrea Stella: McLaren must avoid ‘poison biscuits’ to remain on top in F1

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Carlos Sainz said he was made to “feel stupid” after a team order miscommunication led to Williams team-mate Alex Albon overtaking him in the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

The Williams duo passed and re-passed one another several times in the opening laps of last Sunday’s race at the Miami International Autodrome.

The first instance came on Lap 1 when Lando Norris went wide at Turn 2 and returning to the action caused a bottleneck at Turn 3, making way for Albon to sweep past Sainz and unfortunately damage the Spaniard’s front wing.

Sainz later got back past and was under the impression Albon would protect him from behind.

On Lap 12, Sainz said, “Let’s go forward guys, we’re compromising the race here, let’s get into a rhythm,” adding, “I could do with a bit of help from Alex.”

But the Anglo-Thai driver appeared not to receive that message and passed his team-mate into Turn 11 on Lap 14, before going on to finish fifth.

Sainz, no doubt impacted by the front wing clipping, succumbed to both Ferraris to finish ninth and was very unhappy during his post-race team radio comms.

“Yeah, that’s not… That’s not how I go racing, guys,” he told Race Engineer Gaetan Jego. 

“I don’t care. I’ve lost a lot of confidence here, on everything.”

Williams Team Principal James Vowles then joined in on the comms to say, “we’ll discuss this in the debrief, but I agree with you. We need proper engagement [from him].”

Sainz explains fury post-race

Sainz’s demeanour didn’t improve once out of the car and in front of the written press.

The disappointed Spaniard explained his side of the situation, and why he felt aggrieved.

“The team told us that we were going to freeze positions, then… I don’t know if he got the message or not but basically he overtook me back,” Sainz told select media including Motorsport Week post-race.

“If I’m told on the radio that I’m not going to be attacked and we’re going to push together, to be overtaken as a driver you feel stupid, because you feel powerless, you’re playing the good guy – the same way that I played the good guy in Jeddah – and you get overtaken, and you look completely stupid.”

Calming slightly, Sainz conceded, “But it’s the way it goes, we’ll talk about it, I’m sure we’ll come out of it better as a team and we will move on.”

Albon, meanwhile, no doubt holds the position his pace to go on and finish fifth warranted his course of action, saying, “We had really strong pace on my side of the garage. We proved that we were strong.”

The Anglo-Thai driver was being told to hold station behind Sainz, in the very moment he began his Lap 14 manoever, and he told his Race Engineer “[I’m] about to overtake” to which James Urwin replied, “crack on then.”

Asked about the Lap 14 incident that caused Sainz’s anger, Albon said, “It was most probably in the exact moment of that message was when I overtook him.

“I think if we stayed together a little bit longer, then I would’ve been told that [to stay back] – but for that time we were still free to race. I think it was just a delay between the two cars.”

READ MORE – Williams ‘cornered’ by F1 car issues plaguing Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz

The post Why an incensed Carlos Sainz was made to ‘feel stupid’ by Alex Albon and Williams appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Reports indicate that Alpine has informed its Formula 1 rookie Jack Doohan that he will be dropped immediately in favour of Franco Colapinto.

F1 heads to Imola in just under a fortnight’s time and it could well be that an Argentine lines up alongside Pierre Gasly in the Alpine squad.

Multiple reports point towards Alpine considering dropping Doohan ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, less than a week after the CEO of a Colapinto sponsor let slip off mic that the Argentine could be making his F1 return in Italy.

Those comments were backtracked, and led to Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes being met with questions at the Miami GP.

“I saw it, like everyone else,” Oakes told select media, including Motorsport Week.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of people in Argentina who’d like him in the car this Sunday. 

“We’ve been pretty open as a team that that’s just noise. 

“Jack needs to continue doing a good job. But it’s natural that there’s always speculation there.”

That speculation is down to rumours from the off-season circling Doohan’s future at Alpine, and Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore’s consistent admiration of Colapinto.

Colapinto was signed over from Williams to become Alpine reserve, with him, his management team and James Vowles seeing it as the best opportunity for him to secure an F1 race seat in 2025 or ‘26, after an accomplished nine-race stint alongside Alex Albon last year.

If the reports ring true, Colapinto’s chance will come sooner rather than later with The Race revealing Doohan has been informed of his brutal fate.

Why is Alpine considering cutting Doohan early?

Doohan is one of four drivers yet to score a point in F1 so far this season and here lies the problem Alpine has potentially decided is worth rectifying with a swap.

That’s a shame, considering Doohan has shown, especially over one-lap, that he has decent pace and through qualifying sessions he’s built himself up to Gasly’s level.

In Miami, Doohan out-qualified his team-mate for the first time to line up 14th at the Miami International Autodrome on Sunday, but his race ended at the first corner.

Miscalculating the midfield melee, Doohan was pinched at the apex of Turn 1 and was forced to hop over the kerb, where he bounced into the path of Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls.

A Lap 1 DNF after a strong qualifying session was the latest in a series of errors that have plagued Doohan so far in 2025.

A Lap 1 in the admittedly tricky Lap 1 conditions in Melbourne, penalties in the China Sprint and GP, plus a heavy practice shunt in Suzuka, are evidence of a driver with potential, but one that is error-prone.

Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week, former race winner Johnny Herbert claimed race pace is where Doohan could find himself in trouble.

“He hasn’t blown away by Pierre at all,” he said. “Qualifying pace is very similar.

“Qualifying, that’s one thing. But as you know, as is in everything else, or when it’s down into the race, so the race is something that he’s got to harness all the energies, the negative energies that may be there, the positive energies that are there, and do the job in a race situation, and that will be his saviour,” he added.

“If it doesn’t happen, then it will be Colopinto, for sure. Because I think Flavio is very aware that other people probably are interested.”

Last Friday, ahead of the Miami GP, Oakes confirmed Doohan was a part of Alpine’s line-up moving forward.

“Jack is our driver along with Pierre. We’ve been pretty clear on that. We always evaluate, but yeah – today, that is the case.”

With Monday’s reports emerging, “today” appears to have been the operative word.

READ MORE – Alpine responds to renewed reports Franco Colapinto will replace Jack Doohan

The post Alpine F1 considering swift Jack Doohan axe in favour of Franco Colapinto appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Max Verstappen argued he “had nothing to lose” during his battles with the two McLarens in the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

The first half of the Miami GP saw Verstappen engage in several confrontations with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Battle number one came when Verstappen ran deep into Turn 1 at lights out, inviting Norris to challenge him into Turn 2.

The Red Bull driver shut the door, and Norris ran wide and lost several positions.

Lap 11 through 14 saw Verstappen get his elbows out against Piastri, eventually succumbing to the Australian, who sold the Red Bull maestro a savvy dummy into Turn 1.

Norris came back at the Dutchman across the next five laps, and on two occasions, both drivers ran off the circuit in what was an almighty scrap, one that arguably cost Norris victory.

This prompted Norris to say: “He’s fighting hard, but it’s up to him to do that. 

“He’s ruining his own race. He’s not racing very smart. We probably could have finished 1-2 today, and he didn’t because of that.”

Verstappen had a different view, telling select media, including Motorsport Week, “I had nothing to lose, so, yeah, I also just wanted to have a bit of fun out there.”

Verstappen: ‘It’s clear what is allowed’ in F1 battles now

There were no penalties handed out throughout the battles, with Verstappen, Piastri and Norris all working within the confines of the revised racing guidelines.

After being penalised for his Lap 1 tussle in Jeddah, witnessing Piastri’s Turn 1 confrontation with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Miami Sprint and his own experiences in the GP, Verstappen has a greater understanding of what is permitted in battles.

“I mean the last race and then sprint race and today I think it’s quite clear what is allowed and what isn’t allowed, so I think everyone is adjusting to that,” the Dutchman said.

Still, despite understanding where the margins lie in racing battles, the rules aren’t to Verstappen’s personal preference.

“For me it’s always better to leave it more natural, but I just follow the rules,” he said.

His battles with McLaren concluded, Verstappen looked set to settle for third until a timely Virtual Safety Car granted Mercedes’ George Russell a cheap stop to leapfrog into the final podium place.

But given the two McLarens were fourty seconds up the road to complete a one-two, Verstappen wasn’t concerned with missing out on a podium.

“I mean, honestly, it’s not frustrating at all, you know, we are here to win, and today we were miles off that, so then it doesn’t really matter if you are a P3 or P4,” he opined.

READ MORE – Lando Norris: Max Verstappen ‘ruined his own race’ fighting me in Miami

The post Max Verstappen ‘had nothing to lose’ in McLaren Miami tussles appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Lando Norris believes Max Verstappen “ruined his own race” defending from the McLaren during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

Verstappen ran deep into Turn 1 at lights out on Sunday at the Miami International Autodrome, leaving him exposed to Norris into the Turn 2/3 left/right segment of sweeping curves.

Norris tried a move on the outside but Verstappen left no space, dropping the Briton several positions, and promoting Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri to second and third.

Piastri wasted no time getting past Antonelli and dispatched Verstappen on Lap 14, having made two failed attempts on Lap 11.

Norris, after fighting his way through the pack made several failed attempts to pass Verstappen, the Dutchman’s defence far more persistent with the second McLaren.

The No.4 driver eventually made his way into second by Lap 18, at which point Piastri was nine seconds up the road, an advantage Norris couldn’t slash entirely. 

“He’s fighting hard, but it’s up to him to do that,” Norris said post-race to select media, including Motorsport Week.

“He’s ruining his own race. He’s not racing very smart. 

“We probably could have finished 1-2 today, and he didn’t because of that. 

“So yeah, he’s fighting, that is always expected, but that’s what it is.”

These comments came after Norris told Jenson Button in parc ferme, “It’s the way it is with Max — it’s crash or don’t pass.”

Piastri ‘impossible to catch’ – Norris

Once he’d dispatched Verstappen, Norris had the daunting task of trying to reel in his in-form team-mate.

“I never wanted to let Oscar get too far out of my sights, but I had to put up a good challenge in the first quarter or third of the race trying to get past the Mercedes, trying to get past the Williams, trying to get past Max,” Norris said. 

“So yeah, not an easy start for sure, but I made my way through reasonably quickly I think. And of course, the car was very strong today, so that definitely helps.”

Despite being able to halve the nine-second deficit by the chequered flag, Norris ultimately knew he wouldn’t catch Piastri, with Verstappen’s tactics costing him dearly.

“I gave it a good shot from when I got into second,” Norris said.

“There was a long way to go, I think 25, 30 laps almost at that point. 

“I probably only stopped pushing the last 4-5 laps. 

“The gap went from almost 10 to four or three, almost. I did all I could. 

“I tried the whole race basically until the very end. I kept belief the whole race, but Oscar’s driving well. He’s quick. 

“To catch from 10 seconds was always pretty much going to be impossible, but I gave it a good shot. I almost got there. Just not enough laps.”

READ MORE – Lando Norris: ‘It’s crash or don’t pass’ with Max Verstappen after clash in Miami

The post Lando Norris: Max Verstappen ‘ruined his own race’ fighting me in Miami appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Charles Leclerc admitted he has “no problem” with Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton after team order drama during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

In the final phase of the race, Ferrari’s drivers were seventh and eighth, but due to different tyre strategies, found themselves on opposing compounds.

Leclerc was on Hards, with Hamilton behind on the softer Medium compound and asking Ferrari to execute a swap to chase down the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli up ahead.

It took several laps for Ferrari to deliberate the move, much to the annoyance of Hamilton, who was then unable to encroach upon Antonelli and a swap back was instigated.

Again, this took more than a single lap with miscommunication from the pit wall to the two Ferrari drivers, which frustrated Leclerc and even more so, Hamilton, who asked if his Race Engineer if he should also let the Williams of Carlos Sainz by as well.

Despite all the chaos, Leclerc held no ill will towards his team-mate, but questioned the Ferrari operation.

“Most of the time I say something, today I don’t think I’ll say anything,” Leclerc told select media including Motorsport Week. 

“I think the story is going to be big enough already. We need to do better, that’s for sure. 

“Today was not ideal and was far from maximising our potential, but we’ve got to regroup as a team and be better.”

Asked if he’d have considered letting Hamilton by without a team order, Leclerc “Not really, because I knew Lewis was on a medium, so if anything, he would struggle a bit more to go to the end than me, so we had to take care of tyres.”

However, the Monegasque acknowledged he’d have been arguing the same if he was in Hamilton’s position, and this is where his understanding lay.

“I understand as well that he wanted to try and do something different, so I appreciate that,” he said. 

“I would have done the same thing as if I was him and trying to be a bit more aggressive with the medium tyres. 

“There’s no bad feelings with Lewis, not at all. 

“I understand that he wants to try and optimise as much as I want to try and optimise the car potential. The car potential is just this, which is frustrating.”

Pace is the real problem at Ferrari

Leclerc argued that discussions should have been held pre-race regarding driver swaps to avoid issues on track.

“I think we should have discussed a little bit more before doing the swap, because you’re trying to go to the end with those tyres,” he said. 

“I’m trying to do a good job with my tyres and then everything is tricky. I did not expect Carlos to be so close. 

“All of this made the situation a bit trickier, but I think there’s plenty for us to look at. 

“As I said, we need to do a step and we need to be robust enough that whenever we find ourselves in those situations, we do better.” 

The biggest problem, however, is performance.

That was severely lacking for Ferrari in Miami and the GP saw two McLarens, two Mercedes, a Red Bull and Williams finish ahead.

“There’s the frustration already that I was fighting for P8 at the time and I was not making any gains,” Leclerc siad. 

“I was really struggling with the car, so there’s the frustration of that. And then all the rest, it all adds up. 

“The radio doesn’t always… In this case, probably, but the radio is not always the real picture.”

Moving forward, Leclerc has no doubt he and Hamilton will work together to improve Ferrari’s situation.

“I think we will be quite aligned,” he said. 

“On the fact that today wasn’t the Sunday we wanted, and even though the pace is not there, I don’t think there were any miracles. 

“If everything would have gone perfectly, maybe we would have finished in front of Kimi [Antonelli], but that’s it. 

“There wasn’t much more in the car, so I think we need to separate the two things. 

“Yes, we need to fix those issues that probably cost us one position, but the other seven or six positions are down to the car. This we need to make it better.” 

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton almost repeated Charles Leclerc crash before surprise Miami Sprint F1 podium

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