Jakarta (ANTARA) – Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc said he did not understand why his SF-24 car felt slow during the qualifying session of the 2024 Formula 1 (F1) Canadian Grand Prix (GP) at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montreal, Sunday WIB who only placed in P11.
When he finished third in the first practice session of the first day on Friday (7/6) local time or Saturday (8/6) WIB, Leclerc described Ferrari’s speed as “very competitive” in all weather conditions.
However, at the start of the second day, the speed that represented the Monaco GP victory was not visible in his car. He finished third practice in tenth position and continued the qualifying session in 11th position after being eliminated in Q2.
“Take it easy throughout the day. A similar problem happened this morning, I had a sensor problem, which was very annoying. “In my opinion, the management of the sessions was not the best either,” Leclerc said on Sunday, as quoted by the official F1 website.
“Overall it was a difficult session. I think the biggest problem is the speed. At the moment we are very slow in the dry, we don’t understand,” he added.
Also read: George Russell wins pole at Canadian F1 GP
Starting from 11th was his worst position this season after starting from eighth at the Japanese GP. He also felt it was “a bit strange” to start the 70-lap race in Montreal on Monday (10/6) WIB at 01.00 WIB in that position.
“It’s a bit strange to come off a very good weekend in Monaco in terms of pace and arrive here at a disadvantage. We’ll check that out,” he said.
The Monegasque driver said he would immediately assess the faults in his car once the Canadian GP is over.
With the time remaining before the 70-lap race, he said he would focus 100 percent on securing the maximum points available.
“Right now the best thing we can do is focus on tomorrow,” he said.
Meanwhile, his team-mate Carlos Sainz, who had the same problem as him after starting from 12th, said: “I think from FP3 we saw that we would have difficulties on this track. As soon as we didn’t do a perfect job in qualifying, we were eliminated in Q2.”
“I was struggling a lot with the grip, with the feeling, and to be honest we were in a very difficult balance, a very difficult grip level for the car. It’s easy to make mistakes.
Asked about his feelings ahead of the race, Sainz added: “I hope it’s a question of qualifying and that we will be more competitive in the race, even though we saw last year how difficult it is to overtake. We will do our best.”
Also read: Complete schedule for the 2024 F1 Canadian GP at the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit
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