Charles Leclerc explains Ferrari disagreement during 'poor' Canadian GP

Charles Leclerc has clarified the difference of opinion over strategy during the Canadian Grand Prix between himself and his Ferrari team.

The Monégasque driver finished a disappointing fifth at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. It would have been one position lower had it not been for Lando Norris crashing into the back of Oscar Piastri with three laps of the 70 remaining.

Through the race in Montreal, he appeared at odds with the Scuderia's pit wall, and his engineer Bryan Bozzi, over the best way to approach the grand prix.

Having started on the hard tyre from eighth on the grid, Leclerc felt running long and aiming for a one-stop strategy was the best approach, or "Plan C" as it was being referred to. 

Ferrari, however, opted for "Plan B" - a two-stop approach - despite the 27-year-old's preference.

After being brought in to pit on lap 28, he exclaimed, "I don't understand this choice", following a second set of white-walled Pirellis being strapped onto his SF-25, baking him into a two-stop strategy with the medium compound still to be used.

Ferrari then delayed that change for as long as it could, arguing the team wanted to restrict the number of laps on the yellow-walled tyres, something Leclerc could not understand.

"I don't get it, the medium tyre for me is a good tyre," he said over team radio before eventually being brought in on lap 53.

When asked about the situation, the eight-time grand prix winner explained how he and the Maranello-based squad had been aligned earlier in the race.

"There was obviously a bit of discussion on the radio to understand what was the right call," Leclerc told media including RacingNews365.

"We were aligned at one point, and then the team decided to converge on the two stops, which I did not agree with at that moment, but eventually, I think the team has more information than I do on the pit wall.

"But we'll review it, because I was pretty sure of what I felt, what I had seen around me, that the one-stop was the right call."

Taking the blame

Nonetheless, Leclerc was keen to take ultimate responsibility for what he felt was a "poor" weekend in Canada.

He highlighted his crash 15 minutes into the first practice session, an error that cost him the rest of that hour and FP2.

Leclerc also mentioned the traffic he endured in Q3, having been upset with Isack Hadjar ruining his final push lap.

"But again, I think the poor result of is more down to my mistake in FP1 and the traffic yesterday than anything else," he added.

"I don't think the strategy would have made a big difference. I think the starting position is eventually what held us back.

"I rate my first part of the season very high, but I would probably say that this weekend, I probably didn't extract the maximum out of our car, because I think the potential was good."