Ferrari had claimed pole position through Charles Leclerc on Saturday, with Carlos Sainz starting fourth, but within just 20 laps of Sunday’s race both cars were out of the race. Sainz retired from fourth place in the 9th round with what the team later confirmed was a hydraulic problem. Leclerc was defeated in turn 1 by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, but was in a different strategy from both Perez and Verstappen thanks to a good stance under a Virtual Safety Car. Any chance of spectacular opposition for Leclerc was overturned in the 20th lap when smoke billowed from the back of his Ferrari. Leclerc immediately returned to the pits and withdrew the car, with what Ferrari confirmed was a matter of power. “It hurts,” Leclerc told Sky Sports shortly after the end of his match. “We have to look at it so that it does not happen again. I do not find the right words to describe it. It is really frustrating. We have to look at it.” Ferrari also saw two customer cars fail, with Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen both withdrawing in the middle of the race. The team will only have seven days to deal with its issues before competing again at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. Leclerc was already nine points behind Verstappen in the league. Verstappen was leading the race and had the fastest lap when the Leclerc race was over, which meant the reigning world champion could extend that lead to 35 points by the end of the race. If Pereth finishes second, he will surpass Leclerc in the league standings. The once promising Leclerc season has collapsed in recent races. At the Monaco Grand Prix, in its home race, a Ferrari strategy turned a possible victory into a finish in fourth place. Despite claiming six pole positions from eight races this year, Leclerc turned only two of them into a victory – his last this season was at the Australian Grand Prix on April 10. Credibility issues were a Red Bull problem at the start of the season. Verstappen’s car failed to finish two of the first three races and after the Melbourne race the Dutchman was 47 points behind Leclerc.
