The deep disappointment on Saturday was followed by a smooth relief on Sunday. Charles Leclerc was happy to note that Ferrari was good at everything they weren’t good at!
10-11. Started from the spot, 4-5. Ferrari finished second at the Canadian Grand Prix. Building on improvements, they have a successful race behind them, but mistakes made during the qualifying session also overshadowed Sunday afternoon.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz simplified catching up by saying that when the majority of the field stopped to change tires during the safety car on lap 12, they didn’t. They extended their first stage on medium tires to 39 and 38 laps respectively, so they managed to salvage pit stops against the others, clinching fourth and fifth. place. Leclerc followed Lewis Hamilton with a lead of around 3-5 seconds, which showed that Ferrari’s racing speed and tire wear were good. They had no chance of a podium finish against Mercedes and Aston Martin with the starting handicap.
It is telling that Leclerc, who had been angry and lashed out the day before, stood smiling in front of the microphones after the wave on Sunday.
“I don’t want to say too much about yesterday, but looking at where we started it was the best we could have done today. We did a good job. I’m glad the good feeling from Friday’s long stages was confirmed today. Whatever boat we put on, average, Saab, we were competitive with him and we felt good. That’s good news for this weekend.”
Leclerc stated.
The Monaco driver couldn’t help but stress that in this race, Ferrari was good at everything it wasn’t so good at: strong race pace, good tire management, good tactics and balance. It was the best possible answer after Saturday’s disappointment and conversation.
“We didn’t spend a lot of time on it, as we had a race ahead of us today. Today we have to be happy with our performance. The car was great, we had good tactics and we ran the race well. We’ll get together tomorrow and analyze the weekend as a whole and see what we can do.” do better in the future.” – said Leclerc, when asked if they discussed what happened during the qualifiers.
Charles Leclerc (Photo: XPB)With their strategy, they now followed the alternate path, but there was no doubt whether they would be stabbed again. “No, because it was good from the start. I got on the DRS train, Lando was in front of me and I felt faster, but I couldn’t pass him because of the DRS. I think it was the right decision to do the opposite of what Lando did. The terrain in front of me was clear and I could use my pace. So I trusted this decision. confirmed.
Regarding racing speed and tire wear, which have been their main weaknesses so far, he added: “It’s definitely encouraging. I was very satisfied with the car, and the handling of the tires was also very good.”
Now it’s just a matter of further optimization following what seems to be the right path. For now, Ferrari seems to finally be able to function as a well-balanced, predictable car. “Overall performance. Simply overall performance.” – answered the question, what is their next step. “At the beginning of the year we struggled more with balancing. This was hard to understand. We were good on the medium tyres, we switched to the soft and the car just fell apart. It was very hard to understand. This weekend I took a slightly different path with the setup and it made things easier.” A little bit. And I was more balanced in every mix. That’s good news.” – said the Ferrari driver, who finished fourth, with satisfaction.
