17 June 2023 , 22:21
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Charles Leclerc declared his Ferrari team is "making our lives way too difficult" as he bemoaned another blunder.
He only managed to qualifying 11th for the Canadian Grand Prix, failing to make it through to Q3. And that was because he stayed on intermediate tyres while the track was drying out.
Most others had switched to slicks and were faster as a result. Leclerc was one of only three drivers who remained on the intermediates, along with Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton.
Perez also failed to reach Q3 as a result. Hamilton, though, got lucky and managed to scrape through in 10th place despite not being on the right rubber.
It was a significant mistake for Ferrari, who had looked fairly strong in practice on Friday. Red Bull had identified them as their main threat this weekend, but the Italians will now have work to do to reach the podium.
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And Leclerc, clearly bemused about the situation, said he will be talking with his team about it as it has happened on far too many occasions now. "Straight away it went away from us," he said as he faced the Sky Sports cameras.
"When the track is so dry and we are on intermediate tyres, we are not making our life any easier. We will discuss with the team, but we need to do a step forward now because this is not the first time it has happened.
Leclerc was left on the wrong tyres in Q2 (Getty Images)"We are quite often on the wrong side of the decision in those tricky situations. I had a clear opinion and intuition about it and we went for something opposite, which was frustrating to accept at first.
"You are putting yourself in a very difficult situation from that moment onwards. It slipped away from us. Having said that, it's not all of that because other drivers [Hamilton] managed to go to Q3 doing the same thing I did. But we are just making our life way too difficult."
When asked if he could have been more firm in the cockpit to get his way, Leclerc simply replied: "I said what I thought, but I cannot argue for a whole lap because I need to drive. I just accepted it and dealt with it.
"But I did say what I wanted. I will manage it myself internally and I don't want to tell what will happen, but obviously there will be a talk and an analysis. Hopefully we will come out stronger for it because it's been quite a few times now."