The weekend of the Canadian Grand Prix for Charles Leclerc began with a single goal, the comeback. Ferrari went to great lengths to keep the Monegasque’s decision whether or not to change the power unit a secret, and official confirmation came after the second free practice session, with which he will face a grid penalty for fitting a new electronic control. , the third of the year.
At the beginning of FP1 they announced that they would change some components, but they did not carry a penalty because they were within those allowed by the FIA, but the use of this element will cause it to have to recover positions in Sunday’s race.
At the moment, Leclerc has lost ten positions , although it is likely that he will start further back if they communicate that more components change, so, at best, his best starting place will be 11th (or 20th if he exceeds 15 penalty positions) . What is already certain is that the man from Monaco will have to overtake a lot in Canada, a forced choice after retirements in Spain and Baku, where problems related to the turbo appeared.
Ferrari will try to deal with this situation relying on the top speed of the F1-75, higher in Canada than that of the Red Bull RB18, and the main task is to minimize damage against the Austrians.
¡The Canadian Grand Prix was planned with the intention of doing something different from the start, as could be seen from the FP1 programme, where Leclerc completed many laps in a race setup . Even the tire choice confirmed that he was testing long runs, being the only driver to stick with two sets of new mediums and hards, forgoing a soft compound, so qualifying won’t be a priority.
In terms of performance, the F1-75 was close to Verstappen’s Red Bull, only 81 thousandths , but the defending world champion only used a soft one instead of Leclerc’s two. In general, the Dutchman was consistent in the two sessions, but the margin is not so big as to be calm in the Milton Keynes box, because the #1 knows that this is a great opportunity to open a gap in the championship.
The history of Montreal is full of crazy races, in which predictions are almost useless, and if what we saw in free practice is true, Ferrari will be on the prowl, since its car is the fastest in the corners. However, with the DRS open, Red Bull is superior on the straights, although the two teams ran completely different simulations.
While Verstappen did race sessions with the medium tires, Leclerc did them with the soft ones, thus reaching the conclusion that the Monegasque will start with the ‘attack mode’ activated to recover positions.
Carlos Sainz’s opportunity at the 2022 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix
For the first time since he was at Ferrari, Carlos Sainz is the ‘first sword’ differentiated, and that is that he will not penalize and will start from the front. As the man from Madrid acknowledged, “he enjoyed a day of practice because they made a lot of progress”, with “a difficult driving due to gusts of wind, but completing the programs without problems”.
Thus, understanding the behavior of the tires was crucial, and that is what the Spaniard did, “getting a good amount of data”. Sainz’s long runs with the mediums were the best on the grid, but he put in another game late in FP2 to simulate low fuel.
If the weather forecasts are met, the Ferrari driver will be in the fight for pole position on a wet track , and judging by the intensity that it has rained these days, it will be difficult to stay on the asphalt. It will be a tough challenge for the drivers, but even more so in Sainz’s case, due to the pressure on his shoulders as he is the only Ferrari in the battle.
However, being in a situation in which he has nothing to lose, he will be able to risk more than Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez, so if he succeeds, he will have it in his hand to close the gap in the standings with respect to his teammate and the two Red Bulls.
