Leclerc urges Ferrari to keep up in 'game changing' F1 race

Charles Leclerc believes upgrades will be "super important" to how the rest of the F1 season unfolds, whilst suggesting that Ferrari's form at the Miami Grand Prix will be somewhat dependant on its rivals.

The Italian team has taken a step forward this season, positioning itself as the 'best of the rest' in the fight behind Red Bull. To that end, the Scuderia has taken four podiums and a win in the opening five rounds of the year - next best, McLaren, only has two.

Despite an underwhelming weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit, Leclerc believes the next round, in Miami, will be "in line" with the season so far.

Ferrari struggled during the Chinese Grand Prix on the hard Pirelli tyres - a departure from the norm this year, which has seen the team be consistent across tyre compounds in race trim.

Whilst the five-time race winner expects performance in the Sunshine State to be broadly similar, he did concede that it will ultimately come down to upgrades there.

"[Between now and Miami], we'll be working, obviously, on trying to understand what was going on the hard [tyres], to try and fix that and hopefully don't have that again sometime in the season, the 26-year-old told media including RacingNews365, before adding: "But I don't know. It also depends on whoever is bringing upgrades there [in Miami]. We probably won't, we'll have to wait a bit longer."

Upgrades to be 'super important' to season development

The Monegasque driver went on to caution against falling behind in the F1 development race, something he believes will be key to how the season unfolds, despite him not expecting Ferrari to improve the car between China and Miami.

"I think that [upgrades]is going to be the game changer for the rest of the season - the upgrades are going to be super important to see how the season will develop after that," he said.

The weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit highlighted how close the opposition - particularly McLaren - can be, with Leclerc previously mentioning how a set-up compromise put him and team-mate Carlos Sainz further back in qualifying, behind Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, only to not be able to fully capitalise in the race.

McLaren has already confirmed it is expecting to take a "decent step" forward in Miami through upgrades, which may see the team solidify its strong Chinese Grand Prix form against its rivals.