The Canadian Grand Prix weekend turned into a wild ride for Charles Leclerc, starting with a dramatic crash. That was the nightmare start to our Monegasque ace’s weekend when he put his Ferrari into the wall during his first flying lap in Practice 1 in Montreal.
Leclerc was charging into Turn 3 when he locked up his front-right tyre under braking. Instead of darting down the escape road, he tried to save it — a split-second decision that backfired. His SF-24 hopped over the grass, slid out of control, and smacked into the barrier, causing significant damage to the left wheel assembly and chassis. The red flags came out, and his practice was done.
Fortunately, Leclerc walked away unhurt, although his team certainly felt the pressure. “I’m in the wall… Yeah, my bad. I should have gone straight. I thought I could make it, but I clipped it,” he said over team radio in a moment of raw honesty.
Ferrari’s mechanics went into overdrive to piece his ride back together in time for Free Practice 3. Leclerc rewarded their efforts with a strong lap on used soft tyres, closing to within a tenth of the lead McLaren, a glimmer of hope amid the chaos.
Qualifying
Then came qualifying and the weekend dealt another tough blow. Leclerc fell victim to dirty air from Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls in Q3, sending his car into a slight wiggle just when he needed maximum grip. While he kept it off the wall this time, the incident disrupted his lap, leaving him stranded in eighth on the grid.
Leclerc insisted afterwards that his Practice 1 crash had nothing to do with his struggles in Q3. Dirty air was the real culprit. All in all, a dramatic start to the Canadian Grand Prix for the Monégasque ace.
Strong P5 for Charles
During the race, he ran strongly to make P5, but frustration boiled over when Ferrari asked him to switch tyre compounds mid-race.
Despite the raised voices, Leclerc later delivered a points winning P5 that was more than fair given the overall situation. Leclerc’s fifth place (+3.4 s) means he remains P5 in the Drivers’ Championship. Piastri leads, Norris is second, Verstappen third and Russell fourth. Ferrari trail the leaders in constructors’ points.
Race wrap-up
George Russell (Mercedes) converted pole into a commanding victory, narrowly fending off Max Verstappen and vindicating Mercedes after near-misses earlier this year . Max Verstappen (Red Bull) fought valiantly but couldn’t close the 0.2 s gap, with Red Bull later lodging and losing a protest over Russell’s safety‑car behaviour .
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes rookie) turned heads with a stellar drive to claim his first podium and become one of F1’s youngest scorers of top‑three finishes. Oscar Piastri recovered from a late clash with teammate Lando Norris to claim P4 and solidify his championship lead . Lando Norris was forced out by that collision, accepting responsibility for it.
Charles’ team-mate, Lewis Hamilton’s run ended with right-side floor damage on Lap 12 after striking a groundhog/marmot, relegating him to P6.
Looking ahead
Leclerc and Ferrari return to Europe for the Austrian Grand Prix on June 29 under yet more pressure to extract extra pace from the SF‑25.
