‘Leclerc admitted he was wrong’ to criticise Ferrari’s strategy

Leclerc blasted Ferrari for “not making our life any easier” and always being on the “wrong side of decisions” after his shock Q2 exit during a rain-affected qualifying in Montreal. 

The Monegasque’s criticism came after Ferrari went against his wish to use dry tyres at the start of Q2 when the track was drying out. By the time Ferrari called Leclerc in for slicks, the rain had started to fall heavily again. 

Leclerc failed to progress into the top-10 shootout and was subjected to an embarrassing elimination in the second part of qualifying. 

Ferrari team principal Vasseur said Leclerc had apologised for his public outburst during a team meeting. 

"We had a good discussion. Leclerc admitted: 'OK, I was wrong. I'm sorry’,” Vasseur said. 

"I am always trying to protect my guys - the drivers - for the team. I can perfectly understand when they jump out of the car after a bad result and they are asked: 'Were you happy with the strategy?' For sure he [will] say: ‘No.'

"You will never find drivers saying: 'I am screwed, but it was super.’

"The most important thing is that sometimes it is better to talk with the team before. It was what we did. It was constructive and direct.”

Ferrari ‘going in the right direction’ 

Vasseur said he believes Ferrari are “going in the right direction” after the Canadian Grand Prix. 

Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz showed encouraging pace as they rose from 10th and 11th on the grid respectively to finish fourth and fifth in Sunday’s race. 

"The last stint we did with the same tyres as Alonso for almost the same number of laps and it was plus or minus one second [difference between the cars] after 30 laps," Vasseur explained.

"You can always say Verstappen was not flat out, but I don't think that his personality is like this. Compared to two or three races ago, we finished 10 seconds behind and it was almost the [same] gap [as] at the end of lap one."

Leclerc said: "The feeling with the car was better than in the first part of the season... so it's positive.

"But fourth is not where we want to be. We want to be fighting for first position again.”

He added: "It felt good, but this track is very particular so I would wait for Austria to hopefully confirm what we felt this weekend.”