Frédéric Vasseur reveals in an interview with Racefans that Ferrari had a good conversation with Charles Leclerc regarding his qualifying in Canada. The Monegasque driver was not satisfied with the team's strategic decision and made his discontent clear over the team radio. According to Vasseur, Leclerc understood the team's decision after they explained their reasons to him.
Leclerc failed to make it to Q3 on the damp but drying track in Montreal. After starting Q2, the Ferrari driver informed the team that he wanted to switch to slicks and follow the example of drivers like Alexander Albon. Ferrari decided not to comply with Leclerc's request. The team didn't want to miss the opportunity to set a lap time as early as possible, while the track was drying. Although Leclerc completed more laps than the majority of the drivers in Q2, he couldn't find enough speed in time and missed out on Q3 by 0.189 seconds.
The 25-year-old expressed his frustration over the team radio and was also unhappy with Ferrari's decision to ignore his proposal in the media afterwards. Ferrari team boss Vasseur stated that Leclerc understood the team's reasoning after having spoken with them afterwards.
The Frenchman explains what the team discussed with the driver. "We had a good conversation with him after qualifying. We gave him the overall picture of the situation, what happened during the session, and afterwards, he was much calmer," the 55-year-old says.
He continues, "I think the confusion stemmed from the fact that maybe he didn't have a global view of the qualifying session. So we probably need to improve in a certain area and ensure that he understands what it's like to be in our shoes sometimes." The speed seemed to be there for Ferrari, but the qualifying result was disappointing, as Vasseur acknowledges: "I think the pace was extremely high, but we started in tenth and eleventh position on the grid. That means something went wrong."
The team boss defended Ferrari's strategy and the decision not to indulge Leclerc. "We didn't choose to switch to slicks early because it started to rain at that moment and we wanted to put a timed lap on the board as soon as possible. If you make a pit stop for a set of softs at the end of the lap, you have two laps to warm up the tires, delaying your first flying lap by five minutes. That wasn't the strategy at this stage,' Vasseur explains.