Charles Leclerc reckons the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve should be one of the strongest Formula 1 events of the year for Sauber.
Sauber, following several years of underperformance, has returned to the tightly-congested midfield this year, with both Leclerc and team-mate Marcus Ericsson scoring points across the opening rounds.
Sauber believed Grands Prix in Spain and Monaco would be its worst of the year, exposing the weaknesses of its C37, with a lack of overall downforce still one of its primary concerns.
Despite that, Leclerc scored a point in Spain and Ericsson only narrowly missed out in Monaco, finishing 11th, just a second shy of Renault’s Carlos Sainz Jr.
Leclerc therefore reckons Sauber can head to Montreal with renewed confidence, asserting that the low-downforce nature of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve should aid its prospects.
“I think we got it wrong in Barcelona, the expectations,” said Leclerc.
“I think we didn’t [in Monaco], I think we struggled, it doesn’t look like it on the paper, but we struggled, the car was difficult to drive in qualifying.
“I think we extracted the maximum potential in qualifying, I think we made the best out of the car we had at the moment, but we struggled as expected.
“But we have done the two worst races for us, Paul Ricard is a bit of a question mark, but other than that it was the two worst races for us.
“I hope now the expectations are the right ones and that it’s positive for the next few races, I expect Montreal to be one of the best races of the year so fingers crossed [the pace is] around expectations there.”
Ericsson recently outlined that Sauber’s form of late demonstrates that it must shed its underdog mindset and approach each Grand Prix with the aim of scoring points.
