Charles Leclerc will start the F1 Canadian GP from the fourth row after promising pace in Q1 and Q2 turned into a hugely disappointing P8 come the end of Q3.
After placing P4 and P3 in the first two qualifying segments, the 27-year-old looked a contender for the top 3 on the grid.
However, after going purple in sector 1 on his last push in Q3, he had a couple of massive snaps through turns 6 and 7, forcing him to abandon his lap. Relatively distant dirty air from Isack Hadjar did not help.
Charles Leclerc not hampered by FP1 crash going into qualifying for F1 Canadian GP
Following a big crash in FP1 that meant he missed FP2 because a change to the survival cell was required, the 8-time race winner was on it immediately in FP3, and he carried that into qualifying.
Leclerc explained that the few laps he did in opening practice felt so good that he did not touch the car set-up from there.
“I mean, could I have done better? Definitely, yes, because today is more than disappointing. Is it impacted any kind of way from yesterday? Zero.
“From FP3, from the first laps I felt good, so I regretted nothing. I basically didn’t change the car since my laps in FP1 because I was happy with the car.
“I’m just very, very disappointed with Q3 because I think that was the beginning of the lap was worth or at least good enough to be fighting for pole position, and we are now starting P8, so very disappointed with that.”
The anger on the radio and dirty air for Charles Leclerc in F1 Canadian GP qualifying
As this generation of cars have been developed enormously, dirty air has gone back to previous era levels, and it came back to bite Leclerc on Saturday afternoon.
With Hadjar heading into turn 7 and getting off the racing line on exit, the Ferrari driver was approaching turn 6. Two snaps ended his lap as he caught the dirty air from the Racing Bulls driver.
Once he returned to the paddock and reached the print media pen, he was a lot calmer about the situation compared to his frustration in the car with Hadjar at the time.
“We are going to look at the data.
“On a track like this with the walls, it’s like Monaco, it’s like some other tracks where it’s always trickier with the dirty air.
“Nothing special [about his anger on the radio]. I understand obviously emotions are running high when you’re in the car. I don’t think he’s doing anything wrong. We know how it is.
“Depending on where you are catching a car, then this can have a big influence on the lap. It had a huge influence on me.
“I just wanted to warn him. What I said in the car, I was quite angry.
“But there is nothing wrong with that Isack [Hadjar] has done.”
What is achievable for Leclerc in the F1 Canadian GP?
After starting P7 at the F1 Spanish GP, Charles Leclerc stormed through to P4. He took advantage of the late Safety Car to end up in 3rd.
Historically overtaking has been tricky in Canada. Leclerc is aiming at a potential podium if he can clear cars in front of him early doors.
“I did a little bit of it in FP3, which was very strong. I don’t know. I’m still hopeful, but we are making our Sunday very difficult.
“I want to target a podium, but it all depends on how quickly we are going to get past the others.”
