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Martin Brundle says Charles Leclerc should be bringing his ‘A game’ to every single race weekend after a difficult Canadian Grand Prix.
Fourth place looks like a solid result for Leclerc, but he was aided by McLaren’s tyre error at the start of the race (they dropped out of contention after starting on the intermediates) and George Russell’s DNF.
Leclerc, who suffered a half-spin on the exit of the final chicane, would likely have finished seventh on merit. The gap to teammate Lewis Hamilton was well over half a minute.
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Martin Brundle tells Charles Leclerc that the best drivers don’t have ‘bogey circuits’
While Leclerc got ahead late on in the Sprint, Hamilton had the measure of him throughout the weekend. Indeed, the seven-time world champion was ahead in all six segments of qualifying (Sprint and Grand Prix).
In Leclerc’s defence, this has been an exceedingly rare occurrence during his partnership with Hamilton. He even called it the ‘worst weekend of his career’ after qualifying.
Leclerc has only scored one podium in six visits to Montreal as a Ferrari driver and, remarkably, hasn’t qualified higher than eighth in his last five. That clearly marks it out as a ‘bogey’ track, but Brundle says the best drivers are strong everywhere.
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He wrote in a column for Sky Sports: “Lewis Hamilton looked a different driver all weekend, happy with the car moving around at speed, and confident out of it. He dominated team-mate Charles Leclerc, who struggles on this circuit layout.
“Let’s be absolutely clear, multiple champions don’t have favourite or bogey circuits, it’s ‘A game’ all the way and there’s no other option except for a lot of luck.”
- READ MORE: Charles Leclerc commends Lewis Hamilton’s ‘incredible’ performance at Canadian Grand Prix
Last year, Canada was one of the five tracks where Hamilton outqualified Leclerc. The Monegasque was also beaten by Carlos Sainz in 2022 and Sebastian Vettel in 2019.
Earlier this season, Leclerc described China as one of his weakest tracks after losing out to Hamilton.
On the other hand, he has always been rapid in Monaco, his home race and the next stop on the calendar. Ferrari are the favourites according to rival teams, so he could be in line for his first win since 2024 if he can beat Hamilton.
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