Charles Leclerc was actually considered one of the favorites for pole position at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix after the third practice session. The Ferrari driver took second place, 0.291 seconds behind Max Verstappen on a wet track.
Very similar conditions prevailed in qualifying, but in the end it was only a disappointing eleventh place on the grid for Leclerc. It was only retroactively that he was upgraded to tenth place after Carlos Sainz’ punitive transfer.
But first things first: Leclerc finishes Q1 in P5 and easily makes it into Q2. But that’s where the drama begins. Like almost all other drivers, Leclerc starts Q2 on intermediates on the still wet track.
Only Williams driver Alexander Albon gambles and relies on slicks from the start. “It looks pretty dry. There’s a line that’s really dry. When is the rain coming?” Monegasque wanted to know on the radio shortly after the start of Q2.
“In six to seven minutes,” replies his race engineer, Xavier Marcos Padros. A few seconds later, Leclerc reports back on the radio and explains: “I think we should switch to soft. But let me know if I should set a lap time.”
Ferrari demands lap time on Intermediates
The box’s reply: “We would like to set a lap time. So we stay outside and drive a timed lap.” So Leclerc starts a lap, but after a short time radios: “Guys, it’s drying out.” The box’s reaction: “We have to set a lap time.”
So Leclerc crosses the line again and sets a time, like most other drivers. The Ferrari driver drives a 1:20.615, which initially puts him in fifth place. After that, almost all pilots come in to switch to slicks – including Leclerc.
But while the others can improve afterwards, Leclerc does not succeed on the soft tires. He runs a 1:21.895, then a 1:21.440 and a 1:20.824. After three timed laps, Leclerc comes back to the pits.
At this point he had dropped back to eleventh place. Because the rain has meanwhile become heavier again, Leclerc drives out again on intermediates for a last try. However, he makes a mistake there and the end of Q2 is sealed.
“The tires weren’t ready, come on,” Leclerc radioed annoyed. The final result of Q2 shows that the Monegasque’s first intuition was correct. At the end of the day, the best time goes to Albon, who was the only driver who had opted for slicks right from the start.
Leclerc: Too often make the wrong decisions
“If the track is so dry and we stay on intermediates, then we don’t make our life any easier,” Leclerc said angrily after qualifying on “Sky” and criticized: “We often make the wrong decisions in these difficult situations.”
“We will discuss this with the team again, but we have to take a step forward now because it’s not the first time this has happened,” said the Monegasque. Only at the last race in Barcelona did the team ignore a tire request from Leclerc.
So now in Canada a very similar incident. “I had a clear opinion and a clear intuition. But we did the opposite. Of course, it was difficult to accept that at first. You put yourself in a very difficult situation,” said Leclerc.
“From that moment it slipped away from us,” he reports, explaining that it was clear that it was too late to switch to slicks. “Alex [Albon] did it and got on the slicks before anyone else. And that was definitely the right decision.”
According to his statement, it would not have been a risk to put on the dry tires. “For some reason the team decided differently,” he shrugs and clarifies: “We have to be better. We can’t afford to make those mistakes again.”
However, Leclerc also admits: “However, it was not just because other drivers also managed to get into Q3 with exactly the same strategy as me. But we are simply making our lives far too difficult for ourselves.”
Should Leclerc have insisted on slicks?
In fact, other pilots improved on the slicks, which Leclerc did not succeed in doing. But if the team had listened to him straight away, they probably wouldn’t have gotten into this situation in the first place. So should Leclerc have put more emphasis on his desire on the radio?
“I said what I think. I can’t discuss for a whole lap because I have to drive, prepare my lap and so on. I just have to accept it and deal with it. But I said what I want to do”, he clarifies.
When asked how things are going now, he replies: “I’ll sort this out myself internally. I don’t want to say what will happen. But of course there will be a conversation and an analysis. Hopefully we will come out of it stronger because it is Happened a few times now.”
“I have to understand what the goal was with that. […] Because the track was dry,” says Leclerc, who explains: “You can’t see everything that’s going on on the track. But when you see how fast [Albon] maybe we should have thought twice about coming in.”
The later change put you “in a shitty situation”. He is also so annoyed about the botched qualifying because he had “really good pace” on Friday. “Hopefully we’ll have a clean, dry race tomorrow,” said Leclerc.
“But it was another very difficult Saturday and we always start Sunday with a big task,” he explains, emphasizing: “It won’t be easy to come back. I’m very frustrated.” And not for the first time …