The 2022 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix started for Charles Leclerc even before the end of the race in Azerbaijan, as the Monegasque had his mind set on the possible penalty he would face for a broken power unit when he was leading in Baku with solvency.
For this reason, Ferrari decided to change the electronic control of its engine first, accumulating a 10-place penalty that later became one that forced him to start from the bottom of the grid for mounting parts that exceeded the limit allowed by the FIA in a season. So, in qualifying he didn’t risk it, and when he knew he would be ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, the other driver who was penalized, he got out of his car.
The man from Monaco started from 19th place in Sunday’s race, and among the misfortunes of the rest, such as the abandonment of Sergio Pérez or Mick Schumacher, in addition to incidents such as that of Kevin Magnussen with Lewis Hamilton, added to his great pace in After 70 laps, he was able to climb to fifth and final place, which allowed him to score 10 points.
However, Leclerc lost another valuable 15 units with respect to Max Verstappen, who leads the general classification and with whom, in principle, he should duel for the title. That doesn’t seem to worry him much, and he even assures that it gives him the strength to be better: “It motivates me, it motivates me because, of course, I know that the car has pace.”
“I’m not worried, I’m just very motivated to finally have a clean weekend and show that we are here, that we are strong. So yes, at Silverstone I hope we can do it again,” said Ferrari.
“Red Bull had some problems today as well, so yes, reliability is going to be a big thing, but that’s what we need every time we have tough weekends like this where we have to go for good points, which is what we have done today”, expressed the third classified in the general classification.
Crossing the finish line, the man from Monaco explained how his comeback went in Montreal: “In the first part, there were no problems, everyone had DRS, so I couldn’t do anything. Then, in the second stint, I suffered with traction, but that was just because Esteban [Ocon] had new tires and he was coming out of turn 10 well, which is where the tires are needed.
“He had a lot more grip than me, so I struggled to follow him, and that was very frustrating,” Leclerc acknowledged. “We also had the problem at the pit stop, which made life much more difficult for us, because I had four cars in front again with a DRS train, and I had to be a little more aggressive to come back. Taking all this into account, being fifth was the best.
Asked if the pace of the Mercedes was impossible to follow in the final part, he said: “No, but it wouldn’t have changed without what happened. I think with the second stint, there was nothing we could have done better, It was the situation we found ourselves in.”
