Formula 1 News: Leclerc and Sainz Struggle in Montreal Qualifying, Ferrari’s Pace Disappears
Formula 1 today witnessed a shocking turn of events as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz failed to make it past Q2 in the Canadian Grand Prix qualifying at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. This outcome is a far cry from their winning performance at the Monaco GP just two weeks ago, where Leclerc took the top spot on the podium.
Coming into the Montreal race, Ferrari was considered a strong contender for victory, given the circuit’s characteristics favoring their car. However, both Leclerc and Sainz struggled to find their rhythm, with the Monegasque driver finishing 11th, just one spot ahead of his Spanish teammate.
Leclerc was candid about Ferrari’s disappointing performance, admitting that they were “nowhere” in terms of pace. He revealed that he felt something was amiss with his car during final practice, a sentiment that was echoed in qualifying.
“Well, we are just not fast enough and unfortunately, that’s it,” Leclerc said. “I mean, in FP3 we were nowhere on the dry, in qualifying we were nowhere on the dry as well. I don’t have any explanations for now. In FP3 already we felt that something was wrong, we couldn’t see what was wrong and that was exactly the same in qualifying where it definitely felt like something was wrong but nothing we could see was wrong.”
The Ferrari driver pointed to poor grip in the first sector as a significant contributing factor to their struggles.
“The grip was just extremely poor in the first sector especially, and then once you slide in the first sector it’s a snowball effect and you never really get the performance out of the car.”
Leclerc expressed his surprise at the result, given Ferrari’s recent progress in Formula 1 qualifying.
“Very surprising,” he added. “I did not expect that and it’s obviously disappointing but we’ve got a race tomorrow. I believe that in the race the issues that we have had in qualifying will be a bit different.”
Sainz, too, was perplexed by Ferrari’s sudden loss of pace, attributing it to a combination of factors, including grip and ride issues.
“I think right now, I can just tell you we are lacking grip and our ride doesn’t look as good as it did in Monaco,” Sainz said. “For these two reasons, lack of grip, warm-up, ride, everything around Canada seems trickier than Monaco.”
Despite the setback, Sainz remains optimistic, acknowledging that Formula 1 can be unpredictable.
“We are a bit surprised, everyone knows, because since FP3 really we saw we were slow and this weekend was going to be a tough one, and you never expect to go from fighting for a win and pole position to being out in Q2, but this is Formula 1. I’ve seen worse things happen and we will go back and analyse why we’re struggling around here.”
The team will regroup and analyze their performance, looking to bounce back in tomorrow’s race. In the meantime, fans can stay up-to-date with the latest Formula 1 news and updates on the Formula 1 calendar.
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