Charles Leclerc’s Canadian GP has been a “disaster” – and might get worse

Leclerc opens up about ‘the trickiest weekend of his career’ in Montreal

Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc says the Canadian Grand Prix weekend has been a “disaster” so far, as he struggled to get the most of his machinery.

Leclerc has unusually been outqualified by team-mate Lewis Hamilton twice this weekend, with the seven-time world champion hailing his simulator-free preparation.

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But that may not be all there was to Leclerc’s 0.1s deficit in both sessions, with the Monegasque openly encountering a number of issues when it came to adequately exploiting the SF-26.

“It’s been a disaster,” Leclerc said on Saturday evening. “I think it’s been the trickiest weekend of my career. I’m not overstating it, it’s been horrible. From yesterday’s brake problems to the issues putting tyres in the right window today – only on the last Q3 lap did the tyres come closer to the operational window and work a little better – the whole weekend has been a disaster.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

When it was suggested that Ferrari and Canada weren’t working out, Leclerc replied: “It feels more like Charles Leclerc and Canada aren’t working out! Ferrari-wise, it has worked well for some of my team-mates, but as far as I’m concerned it never has, at least in qualifying.

“It’s quite strange; usually, when it doesn’t work in qualifying, it doesn’t work in the race either, but it’s kind of the opposite here. I feel like my driving style works very well for the race, but in qualifying I’m always struggling. This morning [in the sprint], pace was very good but we couldn’t overtake, and yesterday and today, qualifying was a disaster.”

The Montreal race is forecast to take place in cold, wet weather – down to 12C ambient temperature – and Leclerc expects this factor to compound his issues.

“It’s not the same conditions. Unfortunately, with the problems I’ve had so far, which are temperature problems, with the rain I think it’ll be worse,” he lamented.