F1: Ferrari lets Charles Leclerc down yet again; Monegasque left frustrated

Charles Leclerc was left frustrated yet again after a pit stop error from Ferrari saw his charge up the field curtailed. The Monegasque driver showed impressive resolve to make it to P5 after starting 19th on the grid at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver had made it up to seventh place on his first stint with the hard tyres, but was then stuck behind Alpine driver Esteban Ocon for a number of laps. Despite not having the pace, the Frenchman was able to keep Leclerc behind owing to better traction out of Turn 10.

The strategists of the Maranello team decided it was best to stop Leclerc for a fresh set of tyres and expected to him to come out on a clear piece of track. The Ferrari pit crew were not up to the task and the Monaco-born driver was stationary for over five seconds.

The delayed stop saw him come out behind the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, who were stuck in a DRS train behind Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu. Leclerc was able to pass the cars with relative ease, but it cost him valuable time and tyre life to the Mercedes cars up the road.

"The last part was nice but obviously the very first part I was stuck in a DRS train and I could not do anything," Leclerc said, as quoted on Planet F1.

"It was just about being patient and thinking about the end of the race. Then we did the pitstop thinking that we had cleared the traffic behind but we had a slow pitstop and we fell back into another DRS train so we had to redo the job again."

"Then the end was quite fun. I had to be a bit more aggressive to at least get some points and we finished fifth in the end which is the best considering everything that happened today."

Leclerc finished just over two seconds behind the Mercedes of George Russell in fourth. The Monegasque was aware that had the pit stop error been avoided, he would have been in prime position to fight the Silver Arrows cars and earn more than the 10 points he did on Sunday.

"Yeah copy. I will review the race but obviously after the pit stop it was not ideal but anyway," Leclerc said on the radio after crossing the chequered flag.

It was not the first time Ferrari were unable to perform under pressure. The team's strategy error in Monaco earlier in the season cost Leclerc a potential win at his home race, while power unit issues have robbed him of two further wins this season.