The weeks follow one another, but are not the same for Charles Leclerc.
Everything was fine two weeks ago. During the Grand Prix in his native Monaco, Leclerc savored the victory, but also the pleasure of taking the leading position.
Barely 14 days later, the Scuderia driver would probably prefer to forget the qualifying day for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. Leclerc was unable to qualify for the third segment of qualifying and will have to start from 11th position on Sunday.
A little after having said “that he would not comment here” while he was still on board his car after his exclusion from Q3, Leclerc revealed his feelings to the media on Saturday.
“It’s frustrating to go from such a good weekend to such a bad weekend like this one right now. We still have the race left and I hope we can catch up. »
Leclerc set a time of 1:12.691, which did not allow him to continue his work day.
“We weren’t fast and what’s more, we didn’t manage. The two factors put together mean that we do not move on to Q3. The ride wasn’t too bad at the time we did it, but it wasn’t anything special. I caught traffic in turn 10 with a McLaren but hey… we weren’t fast enough. »
It’s not just for Leclerc that this is a day to forget, but for the entire team. Carlos Sainz was not able to do better than his teammate, with the 12th time in Q2.
“Since we’ve been in the dry, we haven’t been able to get the tires to work,” admitted Leclerc. This morning, we lost four tenths in the first two corners and we had no grip. These are not particular problems. »
“This weekend, we are not at the same level as the other races,” said Sainz simply.
Unlike many teams, Ferrari was unable to adapt to tire problems on the track. The team will have to find a solution on Sunday to hope to see its two drivers finish the race in the points.
“Like many of our competitors, we had difficulty with the tires. George Russell took the lead on worn tires, not new tires. It’s a bit the same for everyone, but we didn’t manage to put things in order when we needed to. It’s our fault, but we have to keep our morale up for tomorrow’s race,” said Ferrari director Frédéric Vasseur.
Ferrari can still console itself by looking at the results of the 2023 edition. After starting in 8th and 11th position respectively, Sainz and Leclerc finished the race with 4th and 5th positions.
