Charles Leclerc hits out at “horrible weekend” after securing P8 in Montreal qualifying. Charles Leclerc frustrated after Ferrari qualifying setback in Canada.

Ferrari driver will start from the fourth row alongside Isack Hadjar

Eighth-fastest time for the Monegasque driver

“In Q3, I either set the lap time or put it in the wall.” Charles Leclerc was unable to find the solution during qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, struggling throughout the session behind the wheel of his Ferrari SF-26. As a result, the Ferrari driver will line up only eighth on the grid for Sunday’s race in Montreal, starting from the fourth row alongside Isack Hadjar.

“It’s been a horrible weekend, I have zero feeling with the car,” Charles Leclerc explained to Sky after qualifying. “I hope tomorrow we can recover at least a little and turn this weekend around. We solved the problems we had yesterday,” he added, referring to the braking issues, “but in Q1 we weren’t able to do what I needed, which was to have clean preparation laps without traffic so I could get the tyres into the right temperature window properly.”

Charles Leclerc went on to explain that while conditions improved slightly in the final phase of qualifying, the result still fell far below Ferrari’s expectations. “In Q3, I managed to get the tyres into a good operating window and the lap was acceptable, but it was only good enough for eighth place,” he said.

“It’s true that everyone is incredibly close and the gap itself is not that large, but finishing eighth is simply not enough, that’s for sure.”

Charles Leclerc’s frustrating journey to eighth on the Montreal grid highlights the immense technical hurdles Ferrari faces when tire preparation windows are compromised. While the tight field deltas prove that the SF-26 possesses adequate underlying pace, failing to secure a clean track position during the build-up phases leaves their drivers heavily exposed to their rivals. As the Maranello engineering team reviews the telemetry to safeguard tire wear parameters for the full-length race, Charles Leclerc’s capacity to execute a clean, aggressive recovery drive through the pack will be critical to transforming a difficult weekend into a heavy points haul on Sunday.