Leclerc: The team left the new Soft kit for the final

Qualifying in Montreal was unsuccessful for Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz dropped out of the race in the second part. The Monegasque, who posted the 11th fastest time, said he made the decisive attempt on rolled-in tires as the team decided to save the remaining new Soft set for the final.

Carlos Sainz qualified twelfth and stated that the car had no grip.

Charles Leclerc (11th): “My last attempt in the second part of qualifying I rode on rolled-in tires. For the first attempt I rode a new set, and the remaining new Soft set was prepared for the final.

The team and I are going to study everything, because there is nothing fun about dropping out of qualifying in the second part. The biggest problem, however, was that we were too slow. Every time I went onto a dry track this weekend the car simply had no speed.

We need to understand the reasons, which we do not yet fully understand. Already in the third practice the car drove poorly and had no grip at all. This is the main problem.”

Carlos Sainz (12th): “The car didn’t have enough grip on the track. If we had done everything perfectly and had driven on the new soft tires the second time, and not the first, and I had not made a mistake in the last corner, then there would probably have been a chance to reach the final.

But the reality is that the results are very tight, and if you don’t do everything perfectly, you will be eliminated in the second part. This is not the kind of results Ferrari wants to see.

Why did we decide to run on new tires the first time and not the second time? We saw rain on the horizon and thought track conditions might be better at the start of the second session than at the end.

Anyway, on another circuit we would have reached the final with rolled-in tires and fought for pole, but if we don’t have the fastest car and don’t do everything perfectly, we will drop out.”