Ferrari drivers get the Italian brand’s car at the destination of every race weekend for traveling to and from the race track. When Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz landed in Canada, they got the Ferrari 296GTB. However, the Monegasque ditched the Prancing Horse to take a Chrysler Pacifica for traveling to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The Ferrari 296GTB comes at a price of $323,000, as per carandriver.com. Meanwhile, the Chrysler Pacifica is a relatively reasonable car at a price point of $41,000. However, Leclerc had a practical reason for choosing the Chrysler to travel to the Montreal track.
F1 photojournalist Kym Illman highlighted this entire anecdote in his Canadian GP cars video on YouTube. He mentioned how the Monegasque had a “beautiful, yellow Ferrari” but chose the white Chrysler Pacifica.
When he asked Leclerc and his social media crew to explain the reasoning for this choice, they stated that there were “too many people” and they “couldn’t fit them all in” the Ferrari. The 26-year-old has his trainer, Andrea, and his girlfriend, Alexandra, for company while traveling to the track.
Thus, they opted for a comfortable ride rather than the luxury Ferrari which can accommodate only two passengers. While many would wonder about Leclerc’s choice due to the contrast of the two cars’ prices, it makes practical sense to travel in a comfortable car rather than a luxury expensive one, even for an F1 driver.
Regardless, on track, Leclerc had a weekend to forget and his SF-24 did not give him the comfort of a good result as had been the case till Canada.
Charles Leclerc and Ferrari’s forgettable Canada outing
After winning in Monaco, Ferrari expected to contest for the race win at the Canadian GP as well. However, it all went downhill for them as the SF-24 just did not find the right window and was off the pace throughout the weekend.
Leclerc was nowhere in the mix to take pole position and his woes continued into the Grand Prix too. After being stuck in the middle of the pack and out of points, the #16 driver faced issues with his power unit.
Meanwhile, the rain started falling intermittently to make matters worse for Leclerc. Amid this chaos, Ferrari fumbled the strategy for him, putting him on a set of slick tires during a heavy passing shower.
It hurt Leclerc’s race as he had to pit again for intermediate tires. This extra pit stop resulted in him falling a lap down. Eventually, the Maranello outfit had to retire the Monegasque’s car, which was also followed by Carlos Sainz’s car due to the Spaniard’s crash with Alex Albon.
However, Ferrari will try to put this aberration of a weekend behind them to start afresh in Spain. The SF-24 will have some major upgrades, including on the floor of the car, on both Leclerc and Sainz’s cars for the Spanish GP. If this new package works well, Ferrari could be back in the hunt for the win after its Canada debacle.
