Scuderia Ferrari has provided details Charles Leclerc’s change of tune on the team strategy critiques following the unfortunate outcome of the qualifying session for the Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal.
The Monegasque man initially voiced his frustration towards the Italian side after being eliminated in Q2 at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, where he and the Maranello team failed to capitalize on improving track conditions.
At the beginning of the session, Charles Leclerc ventured out on intermediate tires but soon realized a dry racing line was forming. He immediately requested a switch to slicks over the team radio. However, the Maranello team decided to stick with the original plan and instructed him to complete a fast lap before returning to the pits. Unfortunately, when Charles Leclerc returned to the track, the rain had resumed, leaving him unable to set a competitive time to advance to the final Q3 session and fight for a place on the front row ahead of Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.
In the immediate aftermath of qualifying, the Monegasque openly criticized the decision to delay the switch to slicks, emphasizing the need for Ferrari to rectify such mistakes: “I think we are just making our life way too difficult,” he told the media. “In those situations, I had a clear opinion. And yeah, we decided to do something else. So, I am frustrated. We have to be better than that. And we cannot afford to do those mistakes again. So, I’ll speak with the team.” – Charles Leclerc said in his post-qualifying interview.
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After engaging in discussions with Ferrari to clarify the circumstances and understand why his request was denied, it has come to light that Charles Leclerc swiftly altered his stance regarding the incident.
Once he was informed of the reasoning behind the Maranello team’s decision, considering the rapidly changing weather conditions, Charles realized that the team’s pitwall had made the correct decision. He acknowledged that his elimination was not solely due to the tire choice, as numerous other teams had encountered the same situation in the final stages of Q2.
Frederic Vasseur, the Ferrari boss, emphasized that the situation behind closed doors significantly differed from Charles Leclerc’s initial perception when he first exited the SF-23 single-seater, as the Monegasque had not comprehended all the factors that were taken into consideration
In a conversation with select media outlets, the Frenchman commented on the unfolding events:
“We had a good discussion, and he [Leclerc] said: ‘Okay I was wrong.’ You know that I’m always trying to protect my guys – the drivers – for the team. I can perfectly understand when they jump out of the car after bad results, and they have the question from someone: were you happy with this strategy? For sure they say no. You will never find drivers say: ‘Yeah, it was super, I’m f****d, but it was super.’ The most important is that I think sometimes it’s better to speak with the team before. It is what we had [after qualifying]. It was very calm, very constructive, and very direct.”
According to Frederic Vasseur, Scuderia Ferrari’s examination of the qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve revealed that the team’s tire choice was not the determining factor in their elimination. This is evident from the fact that the majority of other teams employed the exact same strategy as the Italian side: “We had the same strategy as 90% of the cars, so it was more that Charles was a bit upset with the car.”
When questioned about the exchanges happening on the team radio that showcased disagreements, Fred Vasseur viewed it as a typical occurrence and not something extraordinary. He explained:
“I think it’s quite normal sometimes that they have a different feeling from the people [on the pitwall]. We have to trust their feeling on one hand, but on the other hand, we have the global picture of what the others are doing. And when you are into the hairpin and the last corner [in Montreal], you don’t know what the others did. There has to be a common decision; sometimes you are right, and sometimes you are wrong, but there no one obvious way to fix it. It can’t be only the drivers because if he has the call and he doesn’t see that a car has stopped on track or something [then he will make the wrong call]. That means that it has to be a common decision. It’s not always easy, and sometimes it’s also a matter of luck. In [qualifying] I think the strategy at the end was probably enough to go into Q3, because it was a strategy of 90% of the teams.” – the French manager concluded.
