Ferrari achieved a commendable P4 and P5 finish with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz respectively at the 2023 Canadian GP. However, according to Red Bull chief Helmut Marko, the entire team was worried about the prancing horses catching up with Max Verstappen because of their strong pace.
Ferrari’s weekend started off on a disastrous note. Their horrible qualifying performance saw Leclerc start the race from P10, just ahead of Sainz in P11. Nevertheless, they executed a brilliant strategy in Montreal, which saw them charge through the field without any problems whatsoever.
Even though their hard work didn’t result in a podium finish, both Leclerc and Sainz seemed happy with how things unfolded in Canada. Marko, on the other hand, was wary of Ferrari’s pace. The 80-year-old felt that Leclerc and Sainz had what it took to catch up to Verstappen, which could have made things very interesting.
Helmut Marko was thankful about Ferrari starting P10 and P11
Red Bull has the most dominant car this season. Max Verstappen is driving the RB19 to its very limit, bringing the best out of the car. However, in Montreal, Marko feels that Ferrari was faster on all tire compounds during the race. This made him breathe a sigh of relief once the race was over.
“I have to say, thank God Ferrari had to start so far back,” he said as per Motorsport.com. “Because they were actually the fastest on both compounds.”
Verstappen was in a league of his own in Montreal, as he has been in most races this season. His teammate Perez on the other hand, isn’t having a good time by any means. The fact that he couldn’t match either Ferrari driver in terms of pace at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, added to the Mexican driver’s woes.
Perez’s inability to catch the Ferrari drivers, however, cannot take away the fact that Ferrari were incredibly fast.
Step in the right direction for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have had an extremely difficult start to the 2023 season. Ferrari had a car that was capable of finishing in the top three in almost every single race last year. This season, however, Mercedes and Aston Martin have overtaken them in terms of performance.
Now that the mid-point of the season is just around the corner, the teams are racking up the speed of their development. Both Mercedes and Aston Martin introduced upgrades recently, and the results have been visible on track. For Ferrari, however, it took them some time to get used to the performance boosters.
The Maranello-based outfit will be hooping that Leclerc and Sainz’s good race-pace in Monaco was due to their upgrades. Currently, Ferrari is fourth in the constructors” championship standings with 122 points to their name.
