Ferrari making their life way too difficult, says Charles Leclerc after Canadian Grand Prix struggles

MONTREAL – Charles Leclerc accused Ferrari of not listening to him after he qualified only 11th for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, and said the Formula One team were still making life far too difficult for themselves.

The Monegasque’s anger could be heard over the radio during the qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and he told Sky Sport’s television that Ferrari had missed an opportunity.

The team waited too long to put on slick tyres to make the most of a brief window of dry conditions before the rain got heavier.

“When the track is so dry and we are staying on inter tyres, we are not making our life any easier,” said Leclerc.

“We will again discuss with the team, but we need to do a step forward now because it’s not the first time that it happens. We are quite often on the wrong side of making those decisions in those tricky situations.

“I had a clear opinion and a clear intuition and we went for something opposite.

“Obviously it’s frustrating to accept it first, then you are putting yourself in a very difficult situation. From that moment onwards, basically it slips away from us... we are just making our life way too difficult.”

F1 championship leader

Max Verstappen took pole position and will be eyeing Red Bull’s milestone 100th win.

His pole, in a time of 1min 25.858sec, was the 25th of Verstappen’s career. Victory on Sunday can bring his career total to 41, matching Brazilian Ayrton Senna’s haul.

“It was super slippery out there in some places, but we just made all the right calls, the right time on the track to do the lap times, and I’m very happy to be on pole here,” he said.

“I come from Holland, so we are used to driving in the wet.”

Gambling on different tyres, and a bit of luck, paid off initially for Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg, who placed his Haas alongside the Dutchman on the front row but was then handed a three-place penalty for breaching red flag rules.

That elevated Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to the front row instead, with other post-session penalties causing a further shake-up. Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time winner in Canada, will line up third with his Mercedes teammate George Russell fourth and Hulkenberg fifth.

Leclerc, meanwhile, will feel he should be challenging higher up the grid despite gaining a place when teammate Carlos Sainz, who qualified eighth, was handed a three-place grid penalty.

Sainz, who crashed in final practice, was penalised for impeding Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in Q1.

“Obviously there will be a talk, there will be an analysis and hopefully we will come back stronger from it because it has been quite a few times now,” he said.

“It’s a very difficult Saturday and we always are coming into the Sunday with a very difficult thing to do.

“Starting in (10th) it’s not going to be easy to come back. So I’m very frustrated.”

Red Bull have dominated this season, winning all seven races, with Verstappen taking five to open up a 53-point gap at the top of the driver standings ahead of teammate Sergio Perez, who has won the other two.

The Mexican, who has not made the podium in his last two races, starts well down the grid in 12th. REUTERS