Ferrari plans factory talks over Canada Q2 F1 strategy calls

The Italian outfit found itself on the receiving end of criticism from Charles Leclerc after a request he made to switch to slicks early in Q2 was over-ruled by the team, who wanted him to put a banker lap in on inters. 

But, by the time he had completed that first run and made the switch to slicks, rain had returned, and Leclerc missed the best window to set a better time  – which meant he was eventually dumped out. 

While Leclerc expressed some anger in media interviews immediately after the session about what had happened, the team said the Monegasque had changed his mindset after the situation was explained to him by strategists later on. 

But even so, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur said it was vital that his squad conducted a thorough analysis of what had happened and got together to discuss how best to avoid repeat problems in the future. 

“We have to think about what happened,” explained Vasseur. “We will have a meeting to discuss about it on Tuesday to fix it.” 

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari, in the team principals Press Conference

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Vasseur said that while Leclerc’s critical comments immediately after qualifying grabbed attention, things were much calmer between driver and team in the Saturday night debrief. 

“You can always do a better job,” said Vasseur about Leclerc’s comments. “But it is true also that the [impression] that you have 10 seconds after qualifying is not always the best one.  

“We had a good discussion with Charles. We gave him the global picture of the situation; what happened during the session, and it was much more calm.” 

Vasseur felt that what Leclerc had failed to understand when demanding the switch to dry tyres was that the delay such a switch would cause posed its own risks. 

“At this stage the rain was coming, and we wanted to put a time on the board as soon as possible,” he said. “If you pit at the end of lap one to put a set of softs on, then you have two laps to warm up the tyres and you postpone your first flying lap for five minutes. It was not the right strategy at this stage.” 

Vasseur suggested that what Ferrari needed to improve most of all was in ensuring that Leclerc had a better understanding of the reasoning behind some of the team’s calls. 

“I think the confusion came from the fact that he probably didn't get the global picture of the quali and so on,” he said. 

“We have probably to improve some areas so that he has to put himself in our shoes sometimes.  

“We can't say that we did a good job [in qualifying]. I think the pace was mega, but we finished 10/11. So, it means something went wrong.”