Two reasons behind Ferrari’s qualifying debacle in Montreal | 2024 F1 Canadian GP. The causes that led to the disastrous performance of Ferrari in the Canadian GP qualifying.

After the triumphant weekend in Monaco, expectations from fans and insiders were sky-high for the Maranello team ahead of the Montreal weekend, with Charles Leclerc ready to seize his second win of the 2024 Formula 1 season after breaking the curse at his home in the principality no more than two weeks ago.

Setup and pressure problems
However, both the Monegasque and his Maranello teammate had to immediately contend with an SF24 that was decidedly difficult to drive and with an obvious lack of grip, with the low temperatures further accentuating one of the chronic defects of this car, namely tire warming.

Interviewed at the end of the qualifying session, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur analyzed the disastrous performance of the two SF-24 cars drivers that led to the double elimination in Q2: “Qualifying did not work at all, that is certain. It is not the result we expected. We suffered a lot with the tires, and we are certainly not the only ones, but this does not console us.” – the French manager pointed out.

“Russell took pole with used tires. It was very difficult to understand the tires, and in the end, we were not able to put everything together. Yesterday, in the wet, we had good pace throughout the lap.” – he added.

The Frenchman then analyzed the reasons for the qualifying disaster: “Much depended on tire pressure, but in yesterday’s race simulation, we obtained good results with both wet and dry tires.”

Nonetheless, Frederic Vasseur expressed confidence looking ahead to the race: “I believe it will be different. Today it was very difficult to mount the tires for the dry lap. We need to do a better job on this aspect for the next races. Now let’s focus on tomorrow. The race pace was good yesterday, both with dry and wet tires.”

“There is always a combination of the compound, track temperature, and car setup, but today we were not in the right place at the right time due to setup and pressure, and we need to understand better for the next qualifying session. For the race, we will first have to look at the weather, because the forecasts are not good and therefore it could be chaotic. We will have some cards to play, but we will see. The weather will determine the course of the race.” – the Ferrari team principal concluded at the end of the qualifying session for the 2024 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.