Charles Leclerc fits new gearbox for the 2023 F1 Miami GP after a session-ending crash in qualifying for the Ferrari driver

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will have another gearbox fitted into his SF-23 after his session-ending crash in qualifying on Saturday, May 6.

The Monegasque driver crashed in the Q3 session after getting a tank slapper in Turn 7 and going off the track and hitting the barriers. Interestingly, he had collided with the barriers in the FP2 session on Friday as well, damaging his front wing.

The collision in qualifying brought out the red flag and prevented many drivers from setting their last lap in the session. Ferrari will now fit a new gearbox after already installing a new one ahead of the Miami GP weekend. As per PlanetF1, Sunday morning’s new gearbox is Leclerc’s third of the four penalty-free gearboxes allowed throughout the season.

Charles Leclerc already served a grid penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix earlier this season. He took his third Control Electronics for the season with only two permitted per season back then.

Speaking on Sunday at the Miami GP, Charles Leclerc said:

“We are starting seventh, the weather looks to be quite tricky so hopefully we’ll have a clean race and be able to come back to the front. The Astons look strong in race pace so I don’t know exactly where we are going to be, a podium would be a really good finish considering our race pace."

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"This is not an excuse; It’s difficult for everybody" - Charles Leclerc

While analyzing his crash, Charles Leclerc stated that he was disappointed with his mistake and apologized to the team for the damage.

Speaking to F1.com in his post-race quali interview, he said:

"This is not an excuse. It’s difficult for everybody. So two days, two mistakes, same corner. So yeah, this is not acceptable and, yeah, I’m always very harsh with myself and today was just not good. I know I’m really good at qualifying, most of the time I manage to extract the absolute maximum out of the car, but again, it’s the same mistake as yesterday."

He added:

“The lap before was really good until the lock-up [in Q3] but again, doing good laps is good but you need to finish them and today I didn’t finish them in Q3, so there’s no point saying it was a good lap until then."

It will be fascinating to see if the Ferrari driver can cause any damage in the race and move up on the grid and earn some good points for the team.