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Charles Leclerc shouldered the responsibility for Scuderia Ferrari’s underwhelming outing at the recent Canadian Grand Prix. The 27-year-old finished the race in fifth place after a late safety car incident that shaped the closing stages of the race.
The Monegasque driver had entered the Montreal event on the back of consecutive podium finishes and was hoping to maintain his streak at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. However, an early crash during the first free practice session of the event largely set the tone for how the Ferrari driver’s race weekend would pan out.
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Charles Leclerc was forced to miss the second practice session due to a required chassis change and could only qualify in eighth place for the main race. While he finished the race in fifth, Leclerc was critical of his performance, detailing how it impacted his team’s overall result.
"I don't really want to speak with ifs," he said via RacingNews365. "At the end of the day, I didn't put everything together."
"I think Mercedes probably had the upper hand this weekend," he said. "Red Bull is consistently there. McLaren was a little bit more on the back foot. I think we were there with them. Then where we would have ended up, I don't know. But at the end of the day, I didn't do the job."
While Leclerc has opted to shoulder the blame, it is worth noting that his teammate Lewis Hamilton was also far off the pace during the race. The seven-time champion, who qualified in fifth place, ended his race a place down in sixth. The Italian outfit will now aim for a much-improved performance at the upcoming Austrian Grand Prix.
What Charles Leclerc said after his fifth-place finish at the Canadian GP
Charles Leclerc also reflected on his fifth-place finish at the Canadian Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver endured a forgettable race, judging by his recent run of displays.
The former Sauber driver stressed that the result achieved was the best he could have hoped for, judging by how his qualifying and overall weekend had played out. Sharing his thoughts via Scuderia Ferrari’s official website, he stated:
“P5 was the best we could do today. We could maybe have tried to do something different with the strategy, but at the end of the day, it wouldn’t have changed much for the outcome of the race. Most of all, our starting position was what put us at a disadvantage.
It’s quite a specific track, so I don’t think that too much of what we saw in terms of performance will carry on to the coming races. We will regroup and come back stronger.”
Formula 1 shifts back to its European leg of the season, with the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix the next stop on the calendar. Charles Leclerc boasts fond memories of the Spielberg race, as one of his eight race victories came at the Spielberg circuit when he claimed victory in the 2022 edition ahead of Max Verstappen.
