Charles Leclerc blames his mistakes, not Ferrari strategy for tough Canadian GP

Charles Leclerc believes his mistake in qualifying was the main reason for his difficult F1 Canadian Grand Prix, not Ferrari’s strategy decisions.

Leclerc finished fifth at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, three places higher than where he started on the grid.

The 27-year-old started on the hard tyres and was competitive, running just a few seconds behind McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Leclerc briefly led the race and suggested to Ferrari to opt for a one-stop strategy, rather than two-stopper.

Ferrari ignored his request and stopped him several laps after Norris made his second stop.

Leclerc rejoined over 10 seconds behind the second McLaren driver and settled into sixth before Oscar Piastri and Norris’ incident.

Reflecting on the race, Leclerc felt his own mistake in qualifying - where he ran wide after setting the fastest first sector - ruined his chance of a good result in Montreal.

“Honestly, I think today is kind of the result of my mistakes,” Leclerc said. “FP1, Qualifying, the traffic… all in all I think that puts us a little bit in a difficult situation because we start further back on the grid.

“Then for strategy, there’s been a bit of talk on the radio. I was of the opinion that the one-stop could work, the team was more of the opinion that the two-stop was the right way. Eventually, the team is making the final call because they have more information than I do.

“I wanted to make it clear that this was not what I was thinking, but I understand. I will speak with the team and I’ll explain to them what I saw that made me think that this was the wrong choice. Overall, I don’t think that this has completely changed our race result. Eventually that’s where we deserved to finish.”

Charles Leclerc: Missing FP1 didn’t hurt our weekend

Leclerc’s Friday was a complete right-off after he shunted his Ferrari in first practice.

Leclerc crashed at the Turn 3-4 chicane, hitting the barrier on the left-hand side after he attempted to cut the corner.

The damage was so severe that Ferrari were forced to change the survival cell on his SF-25.

As a result, he missed FP2 too.

However, Leclerc doubts that the lack of practice time impacted his final race result.

“The pace was pretty strong. I think the starting position was just very difficult to deal with because then you’ve got to overtake and it makes everything difficult. I don’t think FP1 hurt our weekend that much.”