Charles Leclerc bemoaned ending up “nowhere” during qualifying for Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix as Ferrari succumbed to an unexpected double Q2 elimination.
Having won in Monaco last time, Ferrari was tipped as the overriding favourite heading into this weekend as its SF-24 was expected to thrive on the bumps and kerbs.
But while Leclerc had expressed optimism over Ferrari’s prospects post-practice, the squad’s competitiveness waned and it never looked like contesting pole position.
Carlos Sainz was unable to haul his car out of the relegation zone on his final lap in Q2 and then improvements down the order ensured that Leclerc also dropped out.
While Leclerc accepted the team’s choice to use newer rubber earlier in the second stage backfired, the Monegasque conceded that Ferrari lacked the pace in the dry.
“We put the new tyres at the beginning of Q2, I think, and the last set was for the Q3, so we’ll review everything,” he explained.
“Obviously, not happy to be out in Q2, and we’ll look into it.
“I think the biggest issue was that we were so slow. Every time it was dry conditions, we were nowhere this weekend, and we’ve got to look into it.”
Leclerc stated that Ferrari was at a loss to explain how the positive balance he discovered in the car during the wet practice hours did not translate to latter sessions.
Asked whether the team understood what happened, Leclerc replied: “No, we don’t understand it yet, so we’ve got to look into it because since FP3 we’ve been nowhere.”
Ferrari has struggled to generate temperature in the rubber for a single lap on previous occasions this season and Leclerc hinted that the problem had recurred again.
Pressed on whether the car felt different this weekend compared to past rounds, Leclerc added: “Oh, it feels bad. It just feels bad.
“There’s no grip at all, so the tyres never feel ready, and this is the biggest problem.”
Meanwhile, Sainz agreed with Leclerc regarding the root cause behind its woes and thinks Ferrari paid the price for not executing a clean session when it mattered.
“Just a lack of grip,” Sainz lamented.
“I think if obviously we would have done everything perfect with the running of the new tyre at the end of Q2 and not at the beginning, maybe a Q3 was possible today.
“But the reality is that it was too tight at every point during today, and it meant that as soon as you don’t do things perfect you are [out] in Q2, which is not where Ferrari wants to be.”
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