The world championship leader was outpaced by his Red Bull rival, after losing the lead in the first stint and then being unable to reclaim the front spot after a late attempt following a safety car period.
With Verstappen having taken his second successive F1 victory, following his success in Imola, and had the edge in speed terms again, Leclerc is clear that the time has come for Ferrari to make some progress.
The Italian outfit has so far held back on bringing any major upgrades to its car, but the team has talked about having imminent developments to help its cause.
Speaking after the Miami race, Leclerc said: “We need to we need to keep pushing.
“Upgrades will be very important throughout the year. And I hope now that we can do a step up from the next race onwards.
“But it's been tight since the beginning of the season.”
Leclerc said his hopes of going for the win were pretty much dashed in the first stint when he was not as quick on the medium tyres as Verstappen.
And although the Ferrari F1-75 was better suited to the hards that were used for the second stint, his pace was still not strong enough to allow him to regain the front spot.
“We struggled quite a bit with the medium tyres, especially in the first stint and got overtaken there,” he said.
“Then it made our race a bit more difficult from that moment onwards. On the hard we were very competitive and towards the end, I thought I could get Max at one point.
“Today they had the advantage in terms of pace. But it was fun. And it's amazing to see so many people again, I kept saying it but yeah, it's great to have so many Ferrari fans in the grandstands.”
Verstappen’s victory has allowed him to close the deficit to Leclerc in the championship table to 19 points.
