“We never know what’s going to happen”: Charles Leclerc claims it’s difficult to trust his Ferrari SF-23 due to its unpredictability

Charles Leclerc recently explained how difficult it is to drive the Ferrari SF-23 due to its unpredictable nature.

The Monagasque once again had a poor race in the 2023 F1 Miami GP, where he finished seventh. After a horrendous crash in the qualifying session, Leclerc started seventh and finished seventh as well. During the race, he even had trouble overtaking Haas drivers and other lower-midfield cars.

According to pitdebrief, Charles Leclerc explained how he spoke to his teammate Carlos Sainz about the lack of consistency in the SF-23 and how it was getting affected in one particular corner. He said:

"I was just speaking just now with Carlos and what we are lacking is consistency in the car. It’s not even from corner to corner, it’s just in the same corner. I can have a huge oversteery balance and then a huge understeery balance and our car is so wind-affected."

He went on to explain how different tire compounds were having unpredictable effects on the Ferrari SF-23. These incalculable results are causing both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz massive problems since they cannot get comfortable with the car and drive in their own style. Leclerc said:

"We’re going from one compound to the other and we never know what’s going to happen on the new compound. It’s always an unknown whether the car is going to react well, whether the tyres are going to be in the right window."

"This is just very difficult also as a driver to gain the confidence and to adapt your driving because you get from one set to the other and the car is completely in a different window."

Until now, the SF-23 has not shown the pace and stability its predecessor had back in 2022 when Ferrari and Charles Leclerc were fighting for the world championship with Red Bull and Max Verstappen.

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Charles Leclerc desperate for a solution for Ferrari SF-23 as rivals move forward

Charles Leclerc was alarmed after the 2023 F1 Miami GP and stated that Ferrari needs to find solutions quickly since other rival teams are gradually improving their race pace and moving forward.

Talking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, the Monagasque driver said:

"We need to find something now, we are struggling in the race since a little bit of time now, so we need to come up with solutions. Mercedes are quick, Aston Martin are really quick in the race, the Alpine didn’t look too bad in the race. I cannot add anything more than we have a lot of work to do and we need to find something."

The Prancing Horse struggled yet again as Leclerc finished seventh and his teammate Carlos Sainz was only able to reach fifth.