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ferrari looks back at gp canada on behalf of vasseur

Ferrari licks wounds after DNF in Canada: 'Long list of what went wrong'

11 June at 08:05
  • Corwin Kunst

It was a terrible weekend for Ferrari in Canada. Missing Q3 on Saturday with both cars, and two DNFs on Sunday. Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing picked up 25 points for the World Championship thanks to Max Verstappen's win, so the grapes were sour in Maranello. Frederic Vasseur licks the wounds.

What exactly went wrong on the Italian side? "It's a long list. On one side of the garage with Charles, we lost part of the power massively on lap two," said Vasseur, who spoke of an electronics problem that meant the Monegasque had to put up with quite a bit less engine power for a long time. "We were expecting a red flag to do a power cycle and to try to come back, but the red flag never happened. We had the red flag in Monaco but not in Montreal. At one stage we had to pit and we lost almost one lap, but it was done. We tried to put the sticks but the race was over."

DNF also for Sainz

With that, Charles Leclerc's race was over, but teammate Carlos Sainz also failed to cross the finish line. "On Carlos' side, he was not in a good position after turn two. At one stage, I don't remember exactly when because the list was quite long, but he had a contact with Ricciardo or Bottas, damaged the front wing and the floor, and it was too much." However, it was not Ricciardo or Bottas, but contact with Alexander Albon that made further driving impossible. Incidentally, Ferrari's Spaniard was guilty of that himself by spinning first.

For Ferrari - which has had the taste for it in recent weeks - it is a major setback. The gap with Red Bull Racing in the world championship had closed little by little, but now they have to start all over again. "Because the pace was strong on Friday…conditions were tricky on Saturday and I think a couple of cars suffered the same issue. I won't go deeply in details, but we were quite confident with the pace for today," Vasseur revealed. "The issue is from the beginning everything went wrong and I hope that we put all the shitty part of the season on the same weekend. But it is like it is."

Engine problem for Leclerc

At the moment, it is guesswork as to what was debilitating Leclerc's problem. It is too early to say anything about that, the French team principal argues. "No, not yet, because it's too early. It's not the engine itself. I think it's more the control of the engine. We had to stop the engine. Completed the power cycle, which is taking 30 or 40 seconds. Not the best pit stop of the season," Vasseur said with some sense of humour.