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via Reuters

via Reuters

A race in which Ferrari’s strategy worked successfully. The F1 community hadn’t seen one of those in a while. But Ferrari finally pulled it off during the Canadian GP last night, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz crossing the line in P4 and P5. Even though the Maranello outfit’s race was smooth, the sessions leading up to it were anything but.

From technical issues on track and undulating weather conditions to Sainz’s crash in FP3, Ferrari struggled all weekend to gain consistency. And then, qualifying came, and everything seemed to turn south for the Scuderia. Leclerc got knocked out in Q2 because of a tire strategy error, and Sainz impeded Pierre Gasly in Q1, for which he received a three-place grid penalty for the race. Leclerc and Sainz started P10 and P11 and recovered well during the race to amass 22 points for the team.

Charles Leclerc isn’t happy just yet

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On Lap 12 of the race, George Russell in P4 made contact with the wall coming out of Turn 9, bringing out the safety car. Most drivers took the opportunity of a cheap pit stop to change their tires during the SC, but Leclerc and Sainz in P8 and P10 decided to stay out. Ferrari favored track position over pitting for new tires like most of the grid did, and while it might’ve looked like the wrong decision, considering they were on medium tires, it paid off.

With most of the grid pitting, Leclerc and Sainz climbed to P4 and P5. When the race resumed, they used their pace and, with Perez hot on their tails, the three of them built a gap of more than 20 seconds to the cars behind. So when they pitted for hard tires, they maintained their positions and finished the race in P4 and P5.

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The Tifosi in Canada and around the world were beyond happy with the result, but Leclerc is striving for more. In a post-race interview, he was asked if the result made him happy. He said, “Surely, then I will have a real smile when we will fight for the 1st position.” Sadly for the Tifosi, they won’t see Charles’ real smile until he’s back fighting for race wins. “We must be conscious, on one hand feel happy when we make a step forward because it’s not always easy. we made a good step forward. we’re happy today, but from tomorrow we must work hard to close the gap,” he added.

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Charles Leclerc expressed his frustration after qualifying

Even though Ferrari was facing a few problems through the weekend, Charles Leclerc was having a good time out on track, staying close to Max Verstappen. Given the car’s performance, he hoped for a good qualifying run to give him a competitive starting position for the race. But in the ever-changing weather conditions during qualifying, Ferrari made a wrong tire choice in a drying track even after Leclerc told them it was dry enough for soft tires. This decision led to him being knocked out of Q2.

After qualifying, he expressed his disappointment and frustration with the team and said that they’re only making their life more difficult. But due to Sainz’s penalty, he began in tenth instead of eleventh and made up six places during the race. And with Sainz behind him in P5, Canada was one of Ferrari’s best weekends in 2023.

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The upgrades it brought in Spain came to life in Montreal, helping the team achieve this mega result in its fight for P2 in the championship. Will Ferrari capitalize on this result and carry its form into Austria in two weeks?