A very bitter weekend for Ferrari. Reliability problems and contact led both Ferraris to withdraw from the race in Canada.
After the great victory, much wanted and desired in Monaco, Ferrari found itself very confident for the weekend in Canada. In Monaco, we saw a very strong and competitive Ferrari, and this made us think of a Ferrari fighting for the world title. But it is always good to remember that the world of Formula One is a complicated and fast sport. It’s a race against time and winning a race does not (unfortunately) mean being in the fight for the world title.
Ferrari qualifying in Canada
Already from qualifying, Ferrari demonstrated that it had several difficulties. In fact, after several difficulties, both drivers from the Maranello team were unable to obtain more than eleventh and twelfth place. Shockingly they were eliminated in Q2. In fact, the SF-24 never gave the impression during qualifying, of having a good pace. The Montreal track is one of those tracks where it is important to have high downforce but also a great engine. And it seems that the latter was the problem that led to the retirement of Charles Leclerc’s car.
Reliability issues and an unfortunate contact
The difficulties seen during free practice and qualifying also recurred during the race. Ferrari had engine problems (the electric part) with Leclerc which cost him a loss of around 80 hp. In the meantime, they tried to ask Charles to change some settings on the steering wheel to limit the damage. Or at least try to solve the problem. In the wet, it worked quite well because everyone is more cautious and no one pushes too much. But once parts of the track dried, they noticed they were wasting too much time.
They then decided to stop it again to reset the electrical part (turn it off and on again). And they also took advantage of the situation to change the tyres. Even though it had stopped raining, the track was still wet, and Ferrari made a mistake by fitting the wrong tyre (slicks), instead of using the intermediate one which could still be fine. So between having wasted time in the pits and having mounted the wrong tyre, they decided to retire the car also to safeguard the rest of the components.
His teammate, Carlos Sainz, didn’t go so well as he had no pace in his car either. To Ferrari’s further demise, on lap 53, he spun, hit Williams’ Alex Albon as a result and then struggled to get out of the grass. He managed to get back on track but was called back into the pits to retire his car.
Many doubts and few certainties for the Ferrari team
As mentioned at the beginning, the world of motorsport is a constantly racing world. A singular victory cannot establish anything. The SF-24 certainly has potential, and we saw it this year. In several races, both drivers finished with a race win each. But this is still not enough to rest assured. This race in Canada underlined that you should never let your guard down. Unfortunately, there are still some reliability issues that need to be addressed. There are therefore still many doubts and few certainties. And in view of the next race, it is important to try to understand the problem to ensure that it does not happen again.
