Charles Leclerc described his Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix as “the worst weekend of my career” and “a nightmare” after struggling to extract any discernible pace from his Ferrari.
The Monegasque has, for the last two races, had the upper hand on teammate Lewis Hamilton in terms of performance, having found the Brit more of a match in the first two Grands Prix of the season.
However, around the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, the seven-time World Champion has found far more in the SF-26 package than Leclerc, despite losing fifth place to him in the final stages of Saturday’s Sprint Race.
Qualifying for the full Grand Prix in Montreal was a far different story. Hamilton was closer to George Russell’s pole time than Leclerc, lapping four tenths quicker in Q3 to secure fifth place, three places ahead of Leclerc.
“Honestly, it’s one, if not the worst weekend of my career,” Leclerc said after qualifying. “Since FP1, I haven’t had one lap where I could feel the car.
“I just felt like I was going to put it into the wall in every single corner I do just because the tyres were completely out of the window today.
“The brakes yesterday that were not in the window as well. There was never, at any time, something that was just clicking and everything was right.
“But surely Lewis managed to do that throughout Qualifying and I didn’t. I’ll analyse on what I can do to be better in these kinds of conditions to just switch those tyres on, because it’s been really a nightmare so far.”
Charles Leclerc ‘to work on the situation I find myself in’
Leclerc foresaw his troubles ahead of Q3, venting over radio that he would “either [be] in the wall or P8.”
And whilst he was handed the lesser of those two evils, the race is likely to be an uphill struggle, but Leclerc was determined to “work on” the problems he faces.
“It’s strange but it’s the situation I find myself in at the moment and I’ve got to work on that,” he said.
“We’ll look into everything. Honestly, for now, I just have a very strange feeling with the car so we’ll look into everything. Surely I can do better things, but it just felt very off.”
With rain forecast for the race, Leclerc will be hoping that it may prove to be a leveller to help him through the field.
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton reveals radical Ferrari decision enabled ‘best qualifying session’ at F1 Canadian GP
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