Ferrari had 'the potential to do much better," claims Vasseur
Despite encouraging pace in qualifying, Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc ended up fifth and eighth on the grid. The Scuderia's team boss Fred Vasseur was left to rue the closing stages of qualifying, suggesting that the Maranello-based had much more to offer than it was able to achieve in the end.
Charles Leclerc had a tough opening day at the Canadian Grand Prix as he hit the walls at Turn 3 at the beginning of Free Practice 1. The incident forced him to sit out the rest of the day as Ferrari needed to change the survival cell of his car and the sporting regulations state that drivers cannot take part in the remainder of the practice day in case of a chassis change.
However, the Monegasque looked in fine form in final practice, ending up second behind McLaren's Lando Norris despite his heavily limited mileage on the weekend.
Leclerc was once again very competitive in qualifying, and he looked in contention for pole position. The 27-year-old set purple time in Sector 1 on his last push lap, but made a mistake into Turn 6 and was forced to abort his final hot lap. In the end, he had to settle with a disappointing P8.
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult Friday as he looked to struggle for pace. The seven-time F1 champion even claimed that it might be a struggle to get into Q3.
However, the British driver appeared to be much more comfortable in his SF-25 right from the beginning of the final practice. Although he was unable to challenge for pole, Hamilton grabbed P5 on the grid for today's Montreal race.
Commenting on Ferrari's qualifying performance, team boss Fred Vasseur stated: "A frustrating qualifying session for the team as I believe the pace was there and we had the potential to do much better, but in the end we couldn’t capitalise on it.
"On his last attempt, Charles was on a very good lap, he was quicker than Russell by around a tenth up to turn 6, when he found a car in front of him and we aborted the lap. I’m not saying he would have taken pole, as there was still two thirds of the lap to go but it’s a shame as he recovered well after a very tough Friday.
Signing off with a word for Hamilton's performance, Vasseur noted: "For Lewis, his pace was very consistent yesterday and I’m sure he can have a strong race from P5 on the grid.
"Here in Montreal, overtaking is possible and so far this weekend our long run pace has been encouraging and usually we go better in the race than in qualifying. It is what it is and so we will just have to grit our teeth and see what we can do in the race."
