Jolyon Palmer can see ‘understandable questions’ for Ferrari after the 2025 F1 Miami Grand Prix thanks to Charles Leclerc, following a miserable time for the Monegasque.
The 27-year-old produced his worst race weekend for some time at the Miami GP last week in Florida. Leclerc did not start the F1 Sprint at Hard Rock Stadium after crashing on his way to the grid, and would only take seventh place in the main race 57.036 seconds off the lead.
Leclerc had not finished any Grand Prix in fully dry conditions lower than fifth for 10 months since coming 11th in last term’s Austrian Grand Prix. He had also finished lower than P5 just twice since with P14 in the 2024 British Grand Prix and P8 in the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc made Ferrari’s intermediate tyre call look ‘foolish’ with his Miami Sprint crash
Scuderia chiefs will now hope to bounce back from their frustrating visit to Florida when the 2025 F1 season heads to their home track Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Ferrari’s team orders between Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in Miami added extra layers to their woes.
Palmer also feels Leclerc made Ferrari look ‘foolish’ at the Miami GP by crashing on his way to the grid for the F1 Sprint. The Scuderia took a risk by sending both of their drivers out on intermediate tyres, and only saw Hamilton make it to his P7 grid spot as Leclerc hit the wall.
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Ex-Renault driver Palmer understands why the Maranello crew made the decision to test the track conditions in the worst of the rain. But Leclerc’s Sprint never started, as he aquaplaned into a wall and broke his right-hand suspension to the sheer bewilderment of his mechanics.
Palmer has told F1’s website: “There were understandable questions regarding the team’s decision to send both drivers out on intermediate tyres for their reconnaissance laps to the grid during treacherous conditions, which led to Charles Leclerc’s aquaplaning out-lap crash.
“I can see the logic for this move, though. For the Sprint, drivers only do one lap to the grid, rather than come through the pits a number of times, which they do before the Grand Prix.
“The Sprint was almost certainly going to require intermediate tyres because, over 19 laps, the full wet tyre would never be optimal and, for that reason, I think Ferrari sending their drivers on inters, just to learn what they could, made sense.
“The sudden downpour while Charles was on his out-lap obviously made the decision look foolish, though, and the rest of the teams saw this and subsequently took the safer option of the wets.”
Charles Leclerc’s crash in Miami ended his run of nine-straight F1 Sprint points finishes
Ferrari’s mechanics waiting for Leclerc to arrive at his P6 grid spot ahead of the F1 Sprint at the Miami GP could not hide their confusion after seeing the Monegasque slide into a wall and ruin his SF-25. He was just a passenger as Leclerc sailed into the barrier out of Turn 10.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Ferrari may not have taken the gamble if they knew the consequences of sending Leclerc to the grid for the Sprint on intermediate tyres. The track was far too wet for the tyres and his run of scoring points in nine-straight Sprints is ruined.
Leclerc had scored points in every Sprint since the 2023 United States Grand Prix, including the Monegasque’s P2 finish in the Sprint at the 2024 Miami GP – at which he even secured third in the feature race. The Ferrari driver is still yet to win an F1 Sprint after 20 attempts.
