Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has revealed Ferrari hoped for a red flag period to override the engine issue on Charles Leclerc’s car in Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Leclerc’s ambitions to rebound from down the order in 11th place were dealt a sizeable blow from the outset as a technical defect developed on his Ferrari SF-24 car.
The Monegasque driver was informed the gremlin was costing him up to five-tenths on the straights and it later transpired that the time loss grew to over one second.
Having dropped out of the points positions, Ferrari elected to pit Leclerc to complete a hard reset on his car and switch him onto a slick compound as the track dried.
However, another lighter rain shower would make the conditions too treacherous and Leclerc ended up a lap down before reverting to Intermediates and then retiring.
Vasseur has confirmed that Ferrari was holding out on a stoppage emerging to allow the team to troubleshoot the issue without Leclerc losing a single place on track.
“On one side of the garage with Charles, we had, on lap two, we lost part of the power,” he told RacingNews365.
“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 a red flag in Monaco but not in Montreal. At one stage, we had to pit, we lost almost one lap but it was done.”
Meanwhile, team-mate Carlos Sainz endured a wretched race as a slow start resigned him to running out the points and a spin saw him collect Alex Albon’s Williams.
While Sainz’s exit resigned Ferrari to a double retirement, Vasseur has divulged that the Spaniard’s outing had been hampered by a clash with Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.
“On Carlos’ side, he was not in a good position at Turn 2,” Vasseur added.
”And at one stage, I don’t remember exactly when because the race was quite long but the contact with Bottas, it damaged the front wing and the floor.”
Vasseur would not be drawn on the issues that contributed to Ferrari being unable to deliver on the pre-weekend expectations that it would be the leading contender.
The Frenchman rued the setbacks that meant neither driver was able to show the squad’s true potential and he hopes it has now used up all its misfortune this term.
“The pace was strong on Friday,” he expressed. “Conditions were tricky yesterday and I think a couple of cars suffered the same issue, I won’t go deep into details.
“But we were quite confident with the race for today. The issue is the beginning, everything went wrong.
“I hope that we put all of the tough, shitty parts of the season on the same weekend.”
