Those who climb high fall hard – Ferrari learned this the hard way in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. Ferrari has not yet been able to repeat the great triumph they celebrated in Monaco with a double podium – crowned by Charles Leclerc’s first home victory – at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal.
They had travelled to Canada as favourites, and many had expected the Scuderia to return on pole. But on Saturday, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were surprised by the bitter reality: Both were eliminated in Q2. On race Sunday, starting position 11 is reserved for Leclerc and starting position 12 for Sainz. Click here for the full qualifying results.
The defeat came as a surprise: “I did not expect this and it is of course disappointing,” admitted the Monaco winner of the 2024 Formula 1 season. “It’s strange to see such a change in performance from one race to the next. After a really good weekend in Monaco in terms of pace, we come here with our backs against the wall. There must be something serious that we haven’t seen yet.” Sainz can hardly believe Ferrari’s crash between Monaco and Canada: “If someone had told me before the Grand Prix how difficult it would be – I wouldn’t have believed it.”
However, by the third free practice session at the latest, in which Ferrari was already uncompetitive, the entire team was beginning to fear that qualifying would be tough. “We already had the feeling in FP3 that something was wrong. But we couldn’t see what it was,” said Leclerc. The team has not yet found a concrete explanation for the poor qualifying performance. “We will have to analyse the session,” said Leclerc and Sainz in unison. However, three factors could have been the decisive factor for the poor speed.
1. Setup: Has Ferrari set up the car for rain?
“I would say the biggest problem is the pace. At the moment we are so slow in the dry, we don’t understand it. Whenever it was dry, we were nowhere this weekend,” said Leclerc after qualifying. Does this comment mean that Ferrari may have tuned the car specifically for rainy conditions?
“The first thing that comes to mind is probably the car setup,” Leclerc begins to search for the error. “Because the car is very similar to the one we had in Monaco. In Monaco we were super strong, here we were super slow. So it has to come from somewhere.” The track characteristics were not so unfavorable for Ferrari, he continued to analyze. “So we definitely did something wrong.”
Not only Ferrari, but also Red Bull have a lot of work to do. Read here why Max Verstappen is not satisfied with his qualifying despite having the same best time:
2. Grip: Is lack of grip Ferrari’s biggest handicap?
According to the team, another factor was much more decisive: “The biggest obstacle for both cars was the lack of grip.” Sainz added: “For two reasons – the lack of grip and the warm-up lap – everything seems to be more difficult in Canada than in Monaco.”
“The grip was extremely poor, especially in the first sector. Then it’s just a snowball effect and you never really get the full effect of the car,” said Leclerc, criticizing the low grip level of the course. This effect can be seen in the graphs in the following diagram. The Ferrari drivers lost tenths of a second to Russell’s Q2 best time in the first sector – Leclerc slightly more than Sainz – and then continued to lose tenths of a second over the entire lap. Sector 1 cannot therefore be held solely responsible for the Q2 exit of both Ferraris. However, the graphic illustrates Leclerc’s argument that the foundation for a successful lap is laid at the beginning. If momentum is already lacking in this section, this continues through Sector 2 and Sector 3.
3. Strategy: Wrong decision costs Sainz and Leclerc entry into Q3
The track evolution is particularly high in Canada. This proved to be Ferrari’s downfall when they decided to complete the first run on fresh tires in the second qualifying segment, but not to use another new set of tires for the second run, but instead to put on used soft tires from Q1. The track became significantly better, but the tire deteriorated.
Ferrari was not the only team to make this decision. Both McLaren and Kevin Magnussen also went out with used tires. Nevertheless, this proved to be a strategic error – especially given the minimal gaps between the teams, where new tires can make the difference compared to old tires.
“The management of the session was not the best,” Leclerc and Sainz had to admit afterwards, pointing out that if the session had been optimized, they would have been able to reach Q3. After their first fast laps in Q2, Leclerc was in P5 with a 1:12:773 and Sainz with a 1:12:927 in P8. The poor strategic management in qualifying meant that they were only able to improve slightly on their second run: Leclerc by just under a tenth to 1:12:691 and Sainz by exactly two tenths to 1:12:728.
Yesterday, the Ferrari team made a mistake in the second free practice session: They sent Leclerc onto the track on intermediate tires, even though it had not yet been officially declared a “wet track”. You can read the details of this offense and the penalty Ferrari received for it here:
Three factors could benefit Ferrari in the race
What gives Ferrari hope for Sunday’s race after Saturday’s breakdown? “As far as the race is concerned, we have to wait and see what the weather has in store. Because that is the big unknown. I remember that last year we also started from the very back and managed to work our way forward,” said Fred Vasseur.
While Ferrari is trying to get back on its feet for the race, George Russell believes Mercedes is already back in the lead after its pole position. Read more here:
In addition to the weather factor, Sainz also saw the factor of tire wear as important for the race: “There was a lot of graining in free practice and there will be a lot of mixed weather tomorrow too. These two things will hopefully make the race a bit chaotic and mean that we can make progress.” This season, unlike in the past, dealing with graining has often been a strength of the Ferrari SF-24 and driving in a way that protects the tires offers an important strategic advantage in the race.
“The race is different and I think time management will play a big role. That’s been a good thing for us this year, so I hope we can use that to get back to the top,” Leclerc also encouraged. He was confident of being able to achieve a better result in the race and instructed his team: “We just have to make sure we get the maximum points possible.”
Another big topic on the Canada weekend is the new Formula 1 regulations for 2026, which were published on Thursday. What are the special features of the 2026 cars? Christian explains in this video: