Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images
After a difficult Saturday, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc had a much better time on Sunday
After a difficult Saturday, which saw Charles Leclerc fail to advance to Q3 and Carlos Sainz Jr. dropped out of the top ten thanks to a three-place grid penalty, it looked as if Ferrari was going to endure another difficult Sunday in the Canadian Grand Prix.
But the team leaves Montreal believing they have actually taken a big step forward, thanks to their work on Sunday in the Grand Prix itself.
Thanks to a smart strategic decision and a little bit of luck, Leclerc came across the line in fourth, with Sainz right behind him in fifth, for one of the team’s best weeks of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
After a difficult Saturday which left Leclerc admittedly “frustrated,” the driver was singing a much different tune on Sunday.
“It was a solid race that confirmed the good feeling I had in the car on Friday,” said Leclerc.
Leclerc started the day tenth, with Sainz behind him in 11th due to the penalty he received for impeding Pierre Gasly during Q1. They both began the race on the medium compound, and when the safety car came out after George Russell hit the wall on Lap 12, the team made the decision to leave them both out on the track rather than come into the pits, to try and gain some track position and take advantage of clean air.
The gamble paid off.
“We stayed out during the Safety Car phase to be able to run in free air, because we knew that it would be key for us and our strategy proved to be the right one,” added Leclerc. “We couldn’t have done better than P4 today considering where we started.”
Both drivers pushed past the midway point of the race on their medium tyres, with Sainz pitting on Lap 38 and Leclerc one lap behind him on Lap 39.
The Ferrari duo was one of a handful of teams who used a one-stop strategy:
Of the drivers who utilized a one-stop strategy, Leclerc and Sainz had the best finishes.
“Today was a positive race. We were able to push continuously and recover after a challenging qualifying. We made the right strategy calls and we had a strong pace, especially with the Medium tyre,” added Sainz. “The car felt good and we could push a bit more, also extending the first stint quite a lot, so I’m happy with that.”
For Team Principal Frederic Vasseur, Sunday’s result was confirmation the team was moving in the right direction.
“It was a good race for us, confirming that we are working in the right direction,” added the Ferrari team boss. “After a poor qualifying yesterday, we rediscovered the race pace we had seen on Friday, helped in this by a good strategy that took us out of traffic, so that Charles and Carlos had the confidence to push throughout the race.”
From Vasseur’s perspective, there was also confirmation that Ferrari could hang with the teams at the front.
“It was notable that in the second half our drivers were matching the lap times of the top three. We are progressing race by race,” he added. “We will continue to focus on working solidly on the course we have set ourselves, while going into every small detail to ensure we can have a perfect weekend from Friday through to Sunday.”
There is some data to support that position. Looking at Leclerc’s fastest lap (Lap 47, with a time of 1:15.907) and comparing it to Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap (interestingly enough, also Lap 47, with a time of 1:15.396) you can see the areas where Leclerc, noted in red, was faster on the track. The data is provided courtesy of F1 Tempo:
Hamilton posted that lap on a set of six-lap old mediums, while Leclerc posted his on a seven-lap old set of hards.
There was another important angle to their result.
The team listened to their drivers.
On Saturday, Leclerc asked to make the switch to soft tyres during Q2, when teams were trying to figure out the damp conditions. Drivers like Alex Albon made the switch early, which allowed Albon to post the fastest time in Q2.
However, Ferrari wanted Leclerc to bank a lap on the intermediates.
The strategy did not pay off, and Leclerc was out of qualifying, leading to his frustration.
On Sunday, however, when the team faced the decision whether to pit or not under the safety car, it was Leclerc and Sainz who pushed to stay out, and take advantage of the cleaner air.
“You always have some hesitation,” said Vasseur. “But what was quite obvious for us is that the both of them told us that the pace was probably much better for them than when they were stuck in the traffic.”
“The potential was there,” added Vasseur. “They said ‘just give us some clean air’ and the best way to do it was to not pit.”
On this Sunday, the team listened to their drivers, and it paid off.
That aspect might be the best improvement of all for the Scuderia.
