Leclerc’s Ferrari disaster laid bare as Hamilton benchmark leaves him exposed

Charles Leclerc labelled the Canadian Grand Prix the toughest weekend of his Formula 1 career after being comprehensively outpaced by Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton has closed the gap to his Ferrari teammate to three points in the early Drivers’ standings, and the seven-time world champion now leads the early head-to-head 3-2 against Leclerc in race trim.

Charles Leclerc admits Lewis Hamilton benchmark exposed Ferrari struggles in Canada

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Despite his struggles, Leclerc earned a fourth-place finish in cold conditions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday, with both McLarens having faltered on strategy and George Russell retiring from the lead of the race.

Finishing 34 seconds behind his teammate at the line, and a fastest lap seven tenths off Hamilton’s best, Leclerc admitted his struggles all weekend were such that it puts Canada 2026 as the toughest round of his Formula 1 career to date.

Asked if his finishing position was a ‘reward’ for working hard in the race, Leclerc was not so sure.

“I don’t take that as a reward, I say that it’s more out of luck than a reward of my hard work and incredible job,” he said after the race.

“Probably the most difficult weekend out of my Formula 1 career.

“I’ve had zero feeling with the tyres since FP1 first lap until the very last lap of the race, and even in the last 15 laps I was driving a second to a second and a half off the pace just to not take risk, and even in these kind of laps I still had moments where I was like ‘that’s too close for comfort’. It’s been an incredibly difficult weekend.

“The good thing is that I’ve got a great benchmark on a weekend like this, with Lewis being absolutely incredible this weekend, and having an amazing feeling with the car, so I can obviously analyse and understand why there was that much difference, but yeah, it’s been very tricky.

“The result is much better than the feeling I had in the car, but in those kind of weekends when the feeling is not there, my job is to maximise the points, which, with a bit of luck, actually P4 is a good result, considering the very bad sensations.”

More analysis from the Canadian Grand Prix

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While Ferrari still held a disadvantage to the dominant Mercedes W17 over the weekend, Hamilton being within a reasonable distance of eventual race winner, Kimi Antonelli, left Leclerc with cause for encouragement moving forward.

The main step to assess this, though, will be as and when Ferrari can challenge Mercedes at the front.

“It’s a step forward,” Leclerc said.

“I think Lewis has done an exceptional job this weekend as well, but it’s a good thing that at least Mercedes didn’t pull away too much.

“I don’t know, though, how much Kimi was pushing, so we’ll have to see the day where we put him a bit more under pressure, but we weren’t too far [behind], considering all the upgrades they brought.”

Leclerc sits third in the Drivers’ standings after the Montreal weekend on 75 points, with Hamilton up to fourth where he’s just three points down on his teammate.

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