Ferrari's Leclerc: lack of pace in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool

Leclerc struggled to explain the reasons behind disappointing Canadian Grand Prix qualifying.

MONTREAL, Canada -- Ferrari's Charles Leclerc struggled to explain the reasons behind the team's lack of pace in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, with his car falling short of the grip needed to secure a position within the top ten.

Just a fortnight ago, Leclerc celebrated an exhilarating victory at the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position. However, the tables turned in Canada, placing him 11th on the grid for Sunday's race—narrowly ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz, who will start 12th.

The qualifying session took an unexpected turn when Ferrari opted to send Leclerc out on a used set of soft tyres for his final attempt in Q2, rather than a new set. Despite this strategic setback, Leclerc emphasized that the car’s deficiencies were apparent from earlier in the day.

"We are just not fast enough and unfortunately that's it," Leclerc admitted. "In FP3 [final practice], we were nowhere on the dry, and in qualifying we were nowhere on the dry as well."

Leclerc detailed the ongoing struggle: "I don't have any explanations for now. In FP3 already we felt that something was wrong, we couldn't see what was wrong. It was exactly the same in qualifying, where it definitely felt like something was wrong but nothing we could see was wrong.

"So the grip was just extremely poor in the first sector, especially, and then once you slide in the first sector it's a snowball effect and you never really get the performance out of the car. So yes, difficult weekend."

Similarly, Sainz echoed Leclerc’s sentiments, expressing surprise at the team’s underwhelming performance, particularly given the high expectations surrounding their prospects at the Montreal circuit.

"We are a bit surprised too, everyone knows, because since FP3, really, we saw we were slow and this weekend was going to be a tough one and you never expect to go from fighting for a win and pole position to being out in Q2, but this is Formula One," Sainz stated.

"I've seen worse things happen and we will go back and analyse why we're struggling around here. I think right now, I can just tell you we are lacking grip and our ride doesn't look as good as it did in Monaco. For these two reasons—lack of grip, warm-up, ride—everything around Canada seems trickier than Monaco."

As Ferrari heads into Sunday's race, the team will undoubtedly be searching for answers and hoping to improve upon what has been a challenging weekend in Montreal.

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