Adam Cooper F1

Leclerc endured a difficult weekend in Montreal

Charles Leclerc says that the Ferrari power unit issue that spoiled his Canadian GP made him a “sitting duck” in the first part of the race.

When a safety car came out the Monegasque driver lost a lot of time in the pits having the PU reset, and the team then took a gamble by sending him out on slick tyres while everyone else switched to fresh intermediates.

After struggling around for a couple of laps he was forced to pit again for intermediates, and having been lapped by the leaders his car was eventually retired by the team.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Leclerc when asked by this writer about the PU issue.

“Obviously we were losing a second. I mean, at first I think it was six-tenths, but then some laps, it was 1.2s, sometimes it was 1.5s, sometimes it was one second. So every time I was going on power, I didn’t know what I will get.

“It was first of all very difficult to drive, very frustrating, because in the straights I would get overtaken by everybody, and very annoying, because I had like 10 or 15 switches per lap to change, to try and reset everything and to try to make it work.

“But in the first part of the race, I think we did quite a good job managing that. And because we were in very wet conditions, or wet conditions, we could recover in corners. So I was still believing we could finish in the points. But then as soon as it dried up, I was a sitting duck in the straights.”

Leclerc admitted that the distraction of the switch adjustments didn’t make life easy.

“Actually, I found it a bit better when it was fully wet. The tricky part was then it was half dry/half wet. You’ve got to look at your steering wheel, and there you’ve got only one line. And if you are off by two or three or five centimetres, you are you are done. So that was very tricky.”

Leclerc conceded that while the PU issue was more frustrating than the unsuccessful tyre choice.

“It felt annoying, but at the end, that was the best we could do at that point,” he said. “I knew we will finish out of the points whatever happened with that issue, so we had to try something with the slicks.

“I was more frustrated about the whole situation and the engine performance in the straights than the actual choice, because if that was working out, maybe that was our only chance to maybe finish ninth, 10th.

“And without that working out, or staying in the position we were in before, we will have lost any points.”

Leclerc admitted that stopping the car was the logical choice: “It was quite frustrating as well, but I knew the race was over by that time, the only thing was I wasn’t feeling really happy in the car, because I had so much dust on my mirrors that I couldn’t see anything, and I just didn’t want to get in the way of people that were fighting for the lead.

“So that was the only situation I was in at the end, but I knew that it was finished by that time.”

Leclerc says the team has to bounce back from the disappointing Montreal weekend.

“We still have some work to do, and obviously, on a weekend like this we need to be on it and maximising all the points.

“I think that’s what we have done extremely well until now. Today with the engine issue I don’t think we could have maximised much more, but these are the things that we need to look at, and be on it.”

Leclerc also referenced the lack of pace in qualifying, which he says was not related to being on used tyres at the end of Q2: “I think the biggest problem was mostly the fact that we weren’t fast, whatever laps we were doing, on whatever tyres we were slow,” he said.

“And this we’ve got to look into it. I think it’s more tyre preparation once again, because we have seen some really good surprises of some teams, and some others that weren’t as good, including us, compared to what we would expect. So yeah, we’ll look into it.”

Perez had another tricky qualifying session in Canada

Sergio Perez says he struggled with his Red Bull RB20 while qualifying a frustrated 16^th in a “strange session” in Canada.

Like other drivers Perez had difficulties with tyre temperatures, and was lacking rear grip.

The Mexican qualified 18^th in the last race in Monaco, although he also started 16^th there after penalties for the Haas drivers gave him a boost.

The difficult Montreal weekend comes just a few days after he was confirmed at RBR until 2026.

“It’s a massive frustration,” he said when asked by this writer about his qualifying. “I think it was a session where everything was reset with the weather, and we just couldn’t get everything to work, especially the rear axle.

“I think it was a very strange session for a lot of cars out there, and we did the struggle quite a lot with the rear end. So I think we’ve got to understand what’s the reason behind it.”

Perez made it clear that there are lessons to be learned from how the session played out.

“I think in hindsight, there are things we could have done better, but fundamentally, we were lacking some pace today,” he said.

“I think the track being so green, it really reset things up. But I was just struggling to put the temperature into the tyre, and I think that was the main trouble.

“I think we’ve got some bits to understand. And hopefully we get through tomorrow, and if we are able to secure a couple of points that will be a good result. And then really just go from there.”

Regarding the bigger picture he said: “I think when you look at the Ferraris, they were on pole in Monaco, and I think this track is not very different to that.

“I think it’s a long season. It will only matter where we finish in Abu Dhabi. There will be very different tracks coming up. But like I say, I think we’ve got some fundamental issue today that we have to understand.”

Tsunoda will stay in Faenza for a fifth season in 2025

The VCARB Formula 1 team has taken up its option on Yuki Tsunoda and the Japanese driver will stay with the Italian outfit in 2025.

It will be his fifth season with the former AlphaTauri team, all of them conducted with Honda power.

The team will switch to the RBP/Ford engine in 2026 when Honda hooks up with Aston Martin.

Tsunoda has enjoyed a strong start to the 2024 season, regularly making Q3 and scoring points five times in eight starts.

Although there had never really been any doubt that he would continue his confirmation ticks another box as next year’s F1 grid continues to fill up.

“I’m very happy to be staying with Visa Cash App RB and it’s a good feeling to have my future decided so early in the year,” said Tsunoda.

“For that, I want to thank everyone at Red Bull and Honda who have played such an important role in my career and will continue to do so. The team has a big development project ahead, and I’m excited to be part of it.

“It’s great to know that everyone appreciates all the hard work I have put in and that the team believes I can help it move further up the grid. We have already made clear progress this season and that really motivates me to always give of my best and that’s what I’ll continue to do with VCARB.

“For the moment, I’m concentrating on the remaining races this season, with the aim of bringing home as many points as possible, always growing with the team, laying the groundwork to do even better next year!”

Team principal Laurent Mekies highlighted Tsunoda’s “more mature approach” in 2024.

“I watched Yuki’s progress in F1 with interest even before I returned to Faenza and it’s been impressive, year after year,” said the Frenchman.

“The step up he has made this year is simply phenomenal, and he keeps surprising us all, race after race.

“There’s no doubting his natural speed to which he has now added a much more mature approach and this combination makes him a very quick and consistent performer, and a great team player.

“We continue to get a better understanding of what he needs from us and vice versa, so we are progressing together. We share the same ambitions, so there are several good reasons to continue our journey together. He still has a lot to give!”

Verstappen remains confident that RBR can improve kerb riding within this season

Max Verstappen admits that the Monaco GP was a “wake-up call” for his Red Bull Formula 1 team as the RB20’s weakness over bumps and kerbs was highlighted.

The Dutchman admits that the issue has been a characteristic of the team’s package since the start of the ground effect era in 2022, and that the increasing competitiveness of rivals has now exposed it.

Verstappen had a poor weekend in Monaco, qualifying and finishing sixth, and the Canadian GP could also be challenging for the team.

“This is something that we know is not our favourite thing in the world,” Verstappen said of the issue.

“But it’s something that we’re working on to try and make better. And this takes time. This is not something that is solved from one to the other week, but for sure, we’ll try to optimise things.

“It’s been a problem since day one of the new regulations. And this is something that we haven’t been able to fix it yet. I do think that after Monaco, it gave us another wake-up call. And yeah, we had a lot of good meetings, I think at the factory, and discussions. I feel like there’s a bit more focus on that now to try and improve that.

“Because I feel like of course with everyone catching up naturally you can’t rely on your advantage anymore, even though your kerb riding is bad, or whatever. So it definitely needs to be fixed.”

Verstappen admitted that it’s not easy to address such issues during a season, but he remains confident that it can be improved.

“It just takes a bit of time to really make, let’s say, big changes on the car, because some things are designed, and they might need to get redesigned or whatever,” he said. “You can’t do that with the budget cap within one or two weeks.”

“I still think that we can do a good job this year if everything works out. But at the moment we have to try a few thing, see what works best, and then for sure.

“I think maybe some things will be different next year that maybe are a bit more difficult to let’s say redesign this year, but I’m still hopeful and confident that we can do a better job already this year.

Asked if the Red Bull simulator doesn’t recreate bumps and kerns accurately enough he said: “Maybe on the simulator, they are probably too good. And yeah, it gives you a bit of a wrong idea of how to set up the car. But some tracks I think we do a better job than others.

“But honestly, I think if you ask everyone, that’s the same, it’s very hard to nail it all the time. But it’s still a good tool, I think. And it does help us, and we can try a lot of stuff on the simulator. But yeah, some tracks work a bit better than others.”

Verstappen says he’s paying no attention to suggestions that Ferrari and McLaren are now in the title fight.

“I just try to focus on what we have here,” he said. “I think we have plenty to work on. We knew that already. But naturally after Monaco I think we have a good direction to work in. And that’s actually quite exciting.

“I’m not focused on what the others are doing, because it’s just a waste of time and energy. And we know that from our side, there are things that we can do better, and that’s what we’ll focus on.

“And I’m sure that if we do those things well we still have a very, very strong team.”

The FIA released the first images of its take on the 2026 regulations today

Fernando Alonso says that trimming 30kgs from the 2026 Formula 1 cars currently looks “impossible” – however he expects the teams will be able to manage it by the time the new designs actually race.

As part of the package the minimum weight limit will be trimmed from the current 798kgs to 768kgs.

While the cars will also be shorter and narrower Alonso believes that battery weight will be major factor, and make it harder for teams to slim their cars down.

“From a driver point of view, what we want is just close competition, multiple race winners, opportunities for everyone,” he said when asked by this writer about the 2026 regulations.

“We don’t want to have domination of three, four years, where only one team, one driver or two drivers can win. So hopefully 2026 can kind of help on that, which is the only thing that F1 is missing. The rest is great.”

Regarding the active aero package intended to improve speed on the straight he said: “It looks complicated. At the end of the day, the fans are the ones that need to say their point of view, I think, for us it is just extra maybe work on the steering wheel or different buttons to press.

“Definitely the technology and complexity of the cars are quite high at the moment. It doesn’t look that it will be less in 2026. Also the engines, obviously, they are very ambitious in terms of targets.

“And maybe some of these aero devices and things that you need to change on the straights and things like that are just to compensate the maybe too ambitious power unit targets.”

Alonso made it clear that making the weight limit will be a challenge for the teams.

“I think it is impossible probably to achieve 30 kilos already,” he said. “The thing is that if you put the power unit being 50% electric, and you need the batteries to support that, the cars and the tyres I think are heavier as well. Cars will just increase 20 or 30 kilos because of the power unit.

“And then you want to reduce 30, you need to drop 60 kilos of the current car, which is it seems at the moment probably to the teams an impossible target.

“They have two years to achieve that target, and as always in F1, what is impossible in 2024 will become reality in 2026, because there are very clever people in the teams. But I think all is a consequence of something else that is in the car.”

Alonso says he welcomes the “manual override mode” that in effect replaces DRS as a way to create overtaking opportunities, and gives the drivers an extra took with which to play.

“It was the same before where we had the KERS active for six seconds, and you had to choose where in the corners and in the lap you use those six seconds, and sometimes you used in different places than the car in front and vice versa, and created some overtaking opportunities.

“So I tend to agree with having kind of freedom to the drivers to use you the power here or there, and create alternative strategies, which now we are all deploying in the same places, at the same time, and it’s a little bit more routine.”

Overall Alonso believes that teams should have more freedom.

“I think it should be more simple,” he said. “It should be maybe more just pure racing and just more down to the drivers and to the team and the specific setup at the specific racetrack, while remembering in the past more freedom into the design of the cars – some F1 cars had six wheels, just to give an example. And in some tracks maybe benefits you in some others you know you will get hurt.

“Same when we had Michelin and Bridgestone tyres in 2005. Maybe a difficult season for Bridgestone if Michelins were better, maybe rain here in Montreal and the Intermediate tyres are great for Bridgestone, and all the Bridgestone cars, they can win the race, or be on the podium.

“So I like that kind of freedom that you can choose something. And it’s not just dictated everything by the regulations. But this is a personal point of view, and everyone will have theirs, and I’m happy, I will adapt.

“And the most important thing is that you have the fastest car. And that’s what we need to work on.”