The Canadian Grand Prix weekend appears to have highlighted Charles Leclerc’s ongoing struggles with the Ferrari SF-26, as the Monegasque driver found himself caught in a difficult combination of tyre temperature issues, setup choices, and a lack of confidence in the car. By contrast, Lewis Hamilton’s competitive performance has only strengthened the impression that Ferrari may still have significant shortcomings in how it prepares race weekends back at Maranello.
While Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has repeatedly stressed the importance of maximising every performance opportunity, the contrast between the two sides of the garage in Montreal suggests that the Scuderia may still be leaving valuable performance on the table before the cars even hit the circuit. With such a tightly contested 2026 Formula 1 season, that is a weakness Ferrari can ill afford.
Charles Leclerc’s difficult weekend in Canada
Charles Leclerc has endured a particularly frustrating weekend in Montreal. Despite working hard to improve the car’s behaviour and extract more performance from the SF-26, he has yet to find the confidence needed to push consistently at the limit. His late move on Lewis Hamilton in the Sprint race offered only minimal consolation, even if the Monegasque driver continues to insist Ferrari’s race pace looks more promising.
The real verdict will come in the Grand Prix, where fuel loads and long-run performance may tell a different story. However, what has significantly damaged Leclerc’s weekend is the inability to build trust in the car over a single lap, combined with an unfavourable qualifying scenario that made tyre preparation even more difficult.
That situation prevented Charles Leclerc from bringing the front tyres into the correct operating window, creating thermal imbalance across the car. With insufficient front-end grip, the Ferrari’s balance naturally shifted away from the sweet spot required for maximum attack, leaving the driver unable to feel fully connected with the car. That lack of confidence became one of the defining themes of his weekend.
The choices that hurt Charles Leclerc
Perhaps the more significant issue, however, relates to decision-making and setup philosophy. This is where the contrast with Lewis Hamilton becomes particularly interesting.
After the Miami Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton openly questioned Ferrari’s simulator correlation, suggesting the virtual preparation work had pointed the team in the wrong direction. The British driver admitted he had struggled to understand which setup path to follow in Florida, leading him to place less trust in simulator guidance and rely more heavily on data analysis and personal experience instead.
That approach appears to have paid off in Canada. Lewis Hamilton has not only outperformed his Ferrari teammate, but he has also looked far more comfortable managing the SF-26 across the weekend. The seven-time world champion appears to have leaned more heavily on instinct and real-world experience rather than blindly following virtual modelling.
Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, appears to have stayed much closer to the team’s original setup direction, including decisions related to brake management. Those choices became a source of visible frustration, with radio messages throughout the weekend suggesting repeated dissatisfaction. There also appear to be unresolved concerns regarding the hybrid system’s energy deployment across the lap.
Put simply, very little seems to have aligned cleanly on Charles Leclerc’s side of the garage.
Ferrari must improve its race weekend preparation
The irony is that Frederic Vasseur himself has repeatedly emphasised the need to optimise every element of Ferrari’s performance package. Following Miami, there was considerable enthusiasm around Loic Serra’s willingness to push technical development forward, yet the recurring issue remains execution.
Charles Leclerc’s struggles in Canada offer a clear reminder that maximising performance is not only about what happens on track, but also about how effectively the team prepares from the factory. Ferrari appears to have built a fundamentally competitive chassis, even if the power unit deficit continues to limit overall potential against rivals.
Beyond the engine situation, Ferrari will hope that future ADUO flexibility can help unlock more meaningful gains, both through power unit development and future upgrades. But introducing improvements is only half the challenge. Extracting their full potential consistently is equally important.
With Mercedes, McLaren and other rivals continuing to evolve rapidly, Ferrari cannot rely solely on upgrades and raw car potential if its ambition is to become a genuine championship contender. In Formula 1’s ultra-sensitive 2026 technical environment, where performance windows are often incredibly narrow, efficient race weekend preparation may be just as important as outright pace.
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