“After the pitstop it wasn’t ideal anyway”- Charles Leclerc criticizes Ferrari’s pit-stop blunder which cost him valuable time in Canadian GP

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started the 2022 Canadian GP from P19 but drove a solid recovery race to finish in fifth position.

Leclerc suffered a DNF in Baku last week, which deemed parts of his power unit beyond repair. As a result he took multiple grid penalties to start the race from the back of the grid.

The 24-year old suffered a tough first half of the race, stuck behind multiple cars on the DRS train. Regardless, he picked up some pace towards the end, and was in good position to finish in the top four. However, his poor luck continued in Montreal, as a Ferrari error cost him time yet again.

Leclerc came into the pits to fit the medium compound tyres, but Ferrari put up a very slow stop. This cost him a lot of time as he entered the track behind Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo. Leclerc passed them very soon, but it cost him valuable time.

He finished P5 in the end after overtaking the Alfa Romeos and Alpines, but did not have enough to get close to George Russell’s Mercedes. This infuriated him after the race and he let his team now.

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Run of bad luck continues for Charles Leclerc

Finishing P5 after starting the race from P19 is a great result. Ferrari however would see this as an opportunity missed, particularly considering the fact that Leclerc was on a faster tyre compound as compared to Russell who finished ahead.

During the cool-down lap, Leclerc took to the team radio to let the Scuderia know about his frustration. “Yeah copy. I will review the race,” he said. “But obviously after the pit stop it was not ideal but anyway.”

Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz too, was victim of a slow pit-stop. If the Spaniard did not get held up while changing his tyres under the Safety Car, he may have joined ahead of Max Verstappen.

Sainz put up a great fight against the reigning World Champion, but the Red Bull driver looked too fast in the first two sectors. He came agonizingly close to winning his first ever F1 race, but fell short and had to settle for P2.

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