Charles Leclerc hands Ferrari upgrades blow in Mercedes pursuit

Charles Leclerc has dealt Ferrari a blow by revealing that he does not feel its upgrades for the Miami Grand Prix will be enough to catch Mercedes, despite most teams having "close to a new car".

The vast majority of teams, including Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull, are set to introduce major upgrade packages at the Miami International Autodrome, having capitalised on the unexpected five-week break.

It is a bizarre situation for F1 to have had only three grands prix by the start of May, with the sheer volume of upgrades being introduced in Miami being practically unheard of in the past.

In the case of some teams, something not far off an entirely new car will be introduced, with McLaren already revealing that this will be the case for itself across Miami and Canada.

While the upgrades across the paddock are significant, Leclerc is not expecting any major changes to the pecking order and, crucially, to Mercedes remaining the team to beat.

According to Leclerc, Mercedes' advantage over Ferrari is too large to be closed simply through upgrades for this weekend, with more being required.

Addressing the widespread upgrades across the grid, Leclerc told select media including RacingNews365: "It's going to be pretty unusual to see so many upgrades across so many different teams at this stage of the season under the new regulations, also given the way the season has been with the five-week break.

"So I'm pretty sure most teams will have something close to a new car here. Whether it will significantly change the pecking order we’ve seen since the beginning of the year, I doubt it.

"We might see bigger or smaller gaps between some teams, but I don't know. At least for us, McLaren was very close in the last grand prix, and I think this package will make a difference — hopefully in our favour.

"But when it comes to catching Mercedes, they were too far ahead for us to close the gap with just what we are bringing here."

While Leclerc feels Mercedes will not be caught, the Monegasque does believe this weekend will lead to new areas being explored for future development.

"It's going to be very interesting," added Leclerc. "I think it will dictate a lot of what happens next, because there will be a new development direction and new thing we might want to explore after the weekend, once we've analysed what the other teams have brought."