Ferrari’s self-inflicted woes in Canada: errors and SF25 operating window that remains too short

There were some flashes of competitiveness, but all in all, as team staff packed up the technical equipment to return to Europe, Ferrari’s Canadian trip unfortunately ended with a result that fell short of expectations. Expectations that, from the outset, were not particularly high to be honest. Thanks to Lando Norris’ self-sabotage, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton gained a position in the final standings at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, but they still remained far from the podium. The bottom step of the podium could have been a realistic goal, had it not been for Charles Leclerc’s misfortunes, namely two errors on Friday and Saturday that had a major impact on his weekend.

Starting from the fourth row on the grid led Ferrari’s strategists to opt for hard tyres, a choice that was also shared by Lando Norris, who started from seventh, a strategy that, overall, worked. However, Charles Leclerc disagreed with the pit wall when he was called in on lap 28 to switch from his first to a second set of hards; in his view, he should have continued aiming for a one-stop race. That would have meant reaching at least lap 50 before switching to mediums and hoping they could last for the final twenty laps—this would have been the riskiest part of the strategy.

In the end, it would not have changed much anyway. After his second stop, the Monegasque driver rejoined on new medium tyres on lap 54, trailing Lando Norris by 11 seconds and race leader George Russell by 18. Twelve laps later, just before the safety car came out, Charles Leclerc had lost ground both to George Russell, 23 seconds behind, and to Lando Norris, 17 seconds behind. The problem was a lack of pace and performance, and no strategy can stretch a short operating window. After the race, even Charles Leclerc admitted it. The Ferrari driver acknowledged that a different strategy might have been worth trying, but believed it would not have significantly altered the race outcome. He stated that fifth place was the best result they could achieve and that their starting position had been the main limiting factor.

Frederic Vasseur admitted that too many mistakes had been made over the weekend, starting with Charles Leclerc’s crash in the first free practice session and continuing throughout the event. The Ferrari team principal explained that he had spoken with Charles Leclerc after the race and agreed that, when starting from the back, taking some risks was justified. However, the French manager felt that attempting a 50-lap stint on the initial set of hard tyres had been overly optimistic. Frederic Vasseur also pointed out that they had likely lacked sufficient data over the weekend to properly assess tyre degradation. The references the Ferrari team principal was referring to were the laps Charles Leclerc missed in FP2, a session he sat out due to the crash in the earlier free practice session.

On the other side of the garage, the issues are different. In Lewis Hamilton’s case, he paid the price for hitting a groundhog, which seriously damaged the right side of the floor. The Maranello team estimated the loss at twenty points of downforce, making the Briton’s race at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve rather hard to assess. Beyond that, it was clear that Lewis Hamilton is loudly asking for a competitive car for next season and a shift in the current one, namely aerodynamic updates to a car that has not changed much in some time.

There are two problems for Lewis Hamilton. The first is that, with the current aerodynamic technical package, it is practically impossible for Ferrari to aim for the top step of the podium and on several tracks, including Montreal, even for the other two. The second headache for Lewis Hamilton is that, without new technical variables, the chances of matching Charles Leclerc’s level are becoming increasingly slim. Whether in the qualifying session or in terms of race pace, groundhog damage aside, Charles Leclerc is able to get more out of the car and for Lewis Hamilton, considering his ambition and public image, this is becoming a problem.