Charles Leclerc is in his fifth season at Maranello, a long period during which he experienced two (brief) periods of great excitement: the start of the 2022 Formula 1 championship and the late summer of 2019. Apart from those moments, Charles has mostly lived through a subdued red dream, a long period of time in which he often had to swallow bitter pills while sporting forced smiles.
Yesterday in Montreal, Charles Leclerc vented his frustration during the half-hour between the end of Q2 (which saw him excluded from the top 10) and the immediate post-qualifying interviews that take place in the TV pen, the area where television crews gather for Formula 1 coverage.
“I asked for slick tires during the out lap,” Charles Leclerc commented heatedly. “It was clearly a slick track. Alex (Albon) immediately went out with dry tires, clearly the right choice, but for some reason, the team decided otherwise. I think we made our lives difficult. I had a clear opinion, but we chose to do something else. I’m frustrated.” – the Monegasque driver admitted.
Some praised Charles Leclerc for his candidness, but a cooler analysis painted a more complex picture. When he returned to the microphones, the Monegasque corrected his stance, in line with the famous phrase of retired Italian professional footballer Luigi Garzya: “I fully agree halfway with the coach.” Period.
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Today, they will restart from an unfortunate position on the starting grid for the Canadian Grand Prix but with promising prospects from Friday’s long runs. The two SF-23 cars showed fast and consistent pace on the medium tires, and that’s why the Scuderia’s engineers made that choice.
Ferrari and Mercedes kept two sets of mediums and only one set of new hards (deciding to return the used set of white tires they had completed a few laps with on Friday), while Red Bull has two new sets of both compounds available.
According to Pirelli, the fastest strategy should involve two pit stops, but as we have often seen, teams will attempt to manage the race with only one stop. “Our simulations indicate that the best option is to start on the mediums and then switch to two sets of hards,” commented Mario Isola, an option that Mercedes and Ferrari have ruled out, considering (in the case of a two-stop race) the use of two sets of mediums.
“Based on what we saw in Friday’s practice sessions and after analyzing the values on the field, I am confident that we can climb the rankings and achieve a good result in the race,” commented Frederic Vasseur, who, like the entire red team, believes in the possibility of a comeback.
For Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, starting from tenth and eleventh positions respectively, the most challenging opponent could be Esteban Ocon, who will start from sixth place. Alpine has good straight-line speed, and the Frenchman (along with George Russell) is considered the most difficult driver to overtake. However, to aim for something significant, it will be crucial to make progress in the early laps. It will be, and it couldn’t be otherwise given the qualifying outcome, an uphill battle.
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