F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Leclerc recoups 'good feeling' with SF-23 in Montreal

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Charles Leclerc labeled his opening day of running in Montreal as positive, the Ferrari charger concluding Friday's second practice fifth in the pecking order and with a "good feeling" overall about his SF-23.

Contrary to Barcelona last time out, Leclerc had no handling issues or quirks to report regarding his car's behaviour.

Save for a red flag triggered by Esteban Ocon's Alpine that precluded him from attempting a second flyer on the soft tyre, Leclerc ran without any issues through the Scuderia's various programmes in the extended 90-minute session.

"Well, in terms of feeling, it’s among the good Fridays for us," the Monegasque said. " had a really, really good feeling with the car, so that’s positive.

"Tomorrow will be a completely new day and honestly I don’t think there’s much that we can bring from today to tomorrow, as it’s going to rain probably.

"It’s going to be very interesting, but it’s been a positive Friday."

©Ferrari

On Thursday, Leclerc admitted that Ferrari had still not gotten to the bottom of the strange issue that led to his shock Q1 exit in Spain. The Scuderia is therefore fielding a virtually unchanged car for Leclerc in Canada.

"No, we didn’t do any significant change," said the five-time Grand Prix winner. "We are obviously learning this package more and more, so we are optimising it.

"Everything we’ve done to the car went in the right direction, so that’s good.

"[The long runs were also] really good, so that’s positive. But it’s only Friday, so we need to wait and see.

"It’s been a positive Friday, now we just need to have a clean qualifying tomorrow in very tricky conditions and then see what’s possible on Sunday."

Canadian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Carlos Sainz set the third fastest lap in FP2 but overall the Spaniard rued the day's disruption and the opportunity to fine-tune his car's set-up.

"Not having that hour, or two hours, in between sessions to learn from the car and do a few set-up changes is a limitation, but we had a decent Friday," Sainz commented.

"I’m still not feeling 100% at home with the car, especially under braking I was struggling quite a bit today, which we start to understand why now and we will try to make changes for tomorrow."

Looking ahead to Saturday, Sainz anticipated a potential juggling act with tyres given the gloomy weather predictions for the day. But the priority will be to keep out of harm's way if track conditions become precarious.

"We just need to make sure we nail all the sessions from now on," he said. "It will be tricky with the tyres always here between extreme, inter, dry [tyres] – the track dries pretty quickly.

"I think it’s going to be a challenging day and it will be all about making no mistakes and getting through it."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.