Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc opened up about his rather challenging F1 race weekend and the positives he took away from teammate Lewis Hamilton’s podium following his fourth-place finish at the 2026 Canadian GP on Sunday.
After encountering brake problems on Friday, Leclerc lacked confidence in the car and struggled to bring the Pirelli rubber into the optimal operating window in Grand Prix qualifying. He only managed to set the eight-fastest time.
The Monégasque started the race on a set of used soft tyres and managed to overtake Isack Hadjar on the opening lap. With both McLaren drivers diving into the pits by the end of Lap 2 to swap their intermediate tyres, he moved up to P5 and delivered a solid first stint thereafter.
As George Russell grounded to a halt due to a power unit failure and brought out the Virtual Safety Car, Leclerc boxed for a set of fresh mediums at the end of Lap 31. However, Ferrari’s double-stack and a relatively slower pit stop meant he rejoined the track behind Hadjar.
Although Leclerc managed to reclaim the position from the Red Bull driver on Lap 40 and improved to P4, the remainder of his 68-lap race was quite underwhelming. He eventually stopped pushing and simply brought the car home, crossing the line a whopping 44.151 seconds behind race winner Kimi Antonelli. Meanwhile, Hamilton took the chequered flag in P2—his best result yet for Ferrari.
Leclerc labels the 2026 Canadian GP as his most difficult weekend in F1 so far
Speaking in the print media pen after the race, Charles Leclerc reflected on how difficult the fifth round of the 2026 F1 season was for him. Labelling it as the toughest weekend of his career so far, he also remarked that his P4 finish was more a product of luck—with McLaren botching their strategy and Russell’s DNF—rather than it being a reward for good performance.
Referring to the tyre temperature issues that had plagued him from the beginning of the only practice session to the last lap in Sunday’s event, Leclerc explained how the lack of grip prompted him to lap significantly slower than the frontrunners even in the last 15 laps of the 2026 Canadian GP to avoid any potential race-ending incidents.
“I mean, I don’t take that as a reward. I say that it’s more out of luck than a reward of my hard work and incredible job.
“But yeah, it’s been a nightmare of a weekend, probably the most difficult weekend of my Formula 1 career.
“I’ve had zero feelings with the tyres since FP1 first lap until the very last lap of the race. Even in the last 15 laps, I was driving a second, second-and-a-half off the pace just to not take risks. And even in this kind of laps, I still had moments where I was like, that’s too close for comfort.
“And yeah, it’s been an incredibly difficult weekend.”
Something positive to take away from Canada
So far as silver lining is concerned, Charles Leclerc added that Hamilton’s fantastic outing in Montreal would serve as a great benchmark for him after he struggled to extract the SF-26’s potential throughout the 2026 Canadian GP weekend.
Moreover, the eight-time F1 race winner expressed optimism that the data from the Brit’s side of the garage would help him understand why his weekend went completely awry.
“The good thing is that I have got a great benchmark on a weekend like this, with Lewis [Hamilton] being absolutely incredible this weekend and having an amazing feeling with the car.
“So, I can obviously analyse and understand why there was that much difference.
“But yeah, it’s been a very tricky weekend.”
In terms of whether he was satisfied with a P4 finish in light of his difficulties behind the wheel in Montreal, Leclerc acknowledged that Sunday’s result was considerably better than he had expected. Moreover, he reiterated that he was lucky to minimise the damage and secure a decent haul of points—with Russell and the McLaren duo out of contention.
“I mean, the result is much better than the feeling I had in the car.
“But in those kind of weekends when the feeling is not there, my job is to maximise the points, which with a bit of luck actually P4 is a good result considering the very bad sensation I had.”
Why Leclerc struggled so much throughout the 2026 Canadian GP weekend
Asked if there was a specific factor that compounded his troubles during the fifth round of the ongoing campaign, Charles Leclerc responded that the characteristics of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Albert Park don’t gel with his particular driving style.
Drawing attention to how the brake issues had undermined his momentum on Friday, Leclerc stated that he simply couldn’t make the tyres work in the subsequent sessions of the 2026 Canadian GP weekend.
“I would say Montreal as a track is not a track where historically I’ve been particularly strong. A bit like Melbourne.
“Melbourne and here are two tracks where I struggled particularly a lot with my driving style, just without going too much into the details. But just the rhythm of the corner with my driving style doesn’t fit well.
“And if you put on top of that the issues we’ve had on the brakes on Friday, which I never really got the rhythm on Friday.
“And then on Saturday, it was more about the tyres. But the tyres are the same for everybody. It’s not like I was in a much worse place compared to Lewis. But I just had zero feeling and I couldn’t take the rhythm.”
The Monégasque also confessed that he was somewhat hopeful about contending for the podium, given his decent first stint on the soft tyres. At the same time, he disclosed that his confidence dwindled immediately once he switched to the medium compound and that he just focused on bringing the car home safely.
“And yeah, today was no exception. On the first stint, I thought there was a possibility to actually look forward and maybe fight for podium. As soon as I put the medium, I understood, yeah, it would be a miracle if I kept that fourth place.”
Whether set-up choices influenced how Leclerc’s weekend turned out
With regard to Hamilton not preparing for the 2026 Canadian GP in Ferrari’s simulator at Maranello and whether his specific set-up direction was instrumental in his podium finish on Sunday, Charles Leclerc dismissed the suggestion.
Claiming that set-up choices don’t have a monumental impact on lap times in F1 nowadays, the Monte Carlo native argued how his deficit to Hamilton was primarily shaped by his driving style and his lack of feeling in the car that held him back from testing its limits.
“There’s none of the performance we are seeing today down to a set-up. You can say there’s a tenth in a set-up.
“But at the end of the day, it’s not that much. I think in Formula 1 now, we are speaking about such small details. So no, it’s more about my feeling and just the way I drove today.
“But not having the feeling, you don’t push a car to its limits, and I can feel I’m completely off the pace. It’s not like I’m pushing, and then you can say, ‘okay, the set-up is not exactly where you want to be’. By not having confidence on a day like this, I just didn’t push enough.”
Leclerc’s primary feeling after the disappointing 2026 Canadian GP
Asked if taking the chequered flag in fourth in Sunday’s Canadian GP was ultimately a redemption, Charles Leclerc stated he was still overwhelmed with disappointment. The Ferrari F1 driver admitted that he was too concerned about his lack of performance to find contentment in the 12 points he bagged for the team.
“Again, it feels good to still maximise points on a day like this. But I will say the bigger feeling out of a race like this is the disappointment of such a poor performance rather than looking at the points all the time.
“It’s been a very poor performance and a very difficult race. So, that’s the biggest emotion I feel now.”
