Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was left feeling mixed emotions after missed opportunities at the Canadian Grand GP
Charles Leclerc finished fifth in the F1 Canadian Grand Prix after a whirlwind of incidents during FP1 and Qualifying.
A big crash knocked Leclerc out of FP1 and FP2, and a poor qualifying result of eighth put the Monegasque on the back burner behind teammate Lewis Hamilton.
The crash, which damaged the chassis and the left set of wheels, stopped Leclerc from driving the prancing horse in FP2.
But luckily, the Ferrari crew were able to fully repair the damage for FP3 and qualifying.
Leclerc showed flurries of pace throughout the Canadian GP and led the race when the front of the pack pitted. However still ended up in fifth overall, missing out on the podium.
When Leclerc was asked about the missed opportunities and the discussion of strategy that led to his P5 finish. He was honest about how his mistakes cost him greatly.
“Honestly, I think today is kind of the result of my mistakes. FP1, qualifying, the traffic, All in all, I think that puts us a little bit in a difficult situation because we start further back in the grid.
“Then for strategy, there’s been a bit of talk on the radio. I was of the opinion of the one-stop could work. The team was more of the opinion that the two stops was the right way.
“Eventually, the team is making the final call because they have more information than I do.”
He continued: “There was information because I wanted to make it clear that this was not what I was thinking but I understand. I think I’ll speak with the team. I’ll explain to them what I saw that made me think that this was the wrong choice. Overall, I don’t think this has completely changed our race result.
“Eventually, that’s where we deserve to finish.”
Leclerc’s only positive for Montreal
Although the 8-time race winner was not happy about the crash in FP1, when Leclerc was asked if there were positives to take away from the race weekend in Montreal, if he hadn’t crashed, he said openly:
“The pace was pretty strong. Honestly, FP1, I say that the results of today is also because of FP1. I don’t feel like it has really affected me much.”
The Monegasque driver had set the fastest lap of the hour at that point in FP1 to continue his strong form in recent races, but it came to an end in just 15 minutes when heading into Turn 3, where Leclerc locked up and hit the wall.
He continued: “I think the starting position was just very, very difficult to deal with because then you’ve got to overtake, and it makes everything difficult. I don’t think FP1 was hurting our weekend that much.”
