F1 Miami sprint qualifying: Leclerc frustrated after SQ3 lap
A “horrendous” lap. Charles Leclerc’s fury after his final attempt in SQ3 summed up a session of mixed emotions for the Monegasque driver.
Leclerc narrowly missed out on a potential front-row start, but the Ferrari SF-26 once again appeared capable of fighting at the same level as Mercedes and the very fast McLaren, which re-emerged strongly in Miami.
Anger and optimism for Ferrari
Fourth place on the grid and a second-row start, ahead of Max Verstappen, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, but behind both McLarens and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. On paper, Charles Leclerc’s Sprint Qualifying result was solid, confirming that the SF-26 is genuinely competitive with Mercedes and even with McLaren’s impressive pace.
However, the Ferrari driver did not hide his frustration at the end of the session.
Leclerc had topped the timesheets in FP1 and showed strong pace throughout the first two segments of qualifying. He genuinely believed he had the potential to put his Ferrari at least on the front row.
His gap to Antonelli in second place was just around one and a half tenths, but most of that deficit was likely lost in the tricky section between Turn 11 and Turn 16. TV replays showed several small mistakes from car #16, who also expressed his frustration with visible gestures during his cooldown lap.
A “horrendous” lap
As always, highly self-critical, Leclerc described his final attempt over team radio with race engineer Bryan Bozzi as: “Horrendous!”
A comment that perfectly reflects Leclerc’s perfectionist mindset, but also his hunger for success. Beating Lando Norris’s time would have been extremely difficult, but today the front row was clearly within reach with a perfectly executed lap.
That frustration, however, still leaves optimism for Ferrari fans heading into the Sprint race and especially for the main part of the weekend, including qualifying and the Grand Prix itself.
The impression is that this Ferrari package is capable of fighting on equal terms with both Mercedes and McLaren, setting up a very tight battle at the front for the rest of the Miami weekend.
May 2, 2026Alex Marino
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