Leclerc calls Canadian GP weekend a disaster as Hamilton outqualifies him twice

Charles Leclerc admitted on Saturday evening in Montreal that his Canadian Grand Prix weekend has been “the trickiest of my career”, after brake failures on Friday and an inability to get his tyres into the correct temperature window during qualifying left him 0.1 seconds behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton in both sessions.

“It’s been a disaster,” Leclerc said. “I’m not overstating it, it’s been horrible. From yesterday’s brake problems to the issues putting tyres in the right window today – only on the last Q3 lap did the tyres come closer to the operational window and work a little better – the whole weekend has been a disaster.”

The result is an unusual role reversal at Ferrari. Hamilton, in his first season with the Scuderia, has outpaced Leclerc across every qualifying session at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with the seven-time world champion crediting a simulator-free preparation approach for his strong form. Leclerc, by contrast, has struggled to extract performance from the SF-26 at a circuit where he says his driving style has historically worked against him over a single lap.

“It feels more like Charles Leclerc and Canada aren’t working out,” he said when it was suggested the team as a whole was struggling at the venue. “Ferrari-wise, it has worked well for some of my team-mates, but as far as I’m concerned it never has, at least in qualifying. Usually, when it doesn’t work in qualifying, it doesn’t work in the race either, but it’s kind of the opposite here. I feel like my driving style works very well for the race, but in qualifying I’m always struggling.”

Leclerc did show competitive race pace in Saturday’s sprint, though he was unable to convert it into positions due to the difficulty of overtaking at the Montreal circuit. That relative strength offers some encouragement heading into Sunday’s grand prix, but the weather forecast complicates matters significantly.

Race day conditions are expected to be cold and wet, with ambient temperatures dropping to around 12°C. For a driver whose core problem all weekend has been managing tyre temperatures, the prospect of rain is unwelcome. “Unfortunately, with the problems I’ve had so far, which are temperature problems, with the rain I think it’ll be worse,” Leclerc said.

The combination of a difficult starting position, a circuit that has rarely suited him in qualifying trim, and deteriorating weather conditions means Leclerc faces a significant challenge to salvage a strong result from a weekend he has already written off as one of the worst of his Formula 1 career.