Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc has praised the resilience of his team after bouncing back from the disappointment of Monaco to score a point in Canada.
The Formula 2 champion continued his impressive run of form with a fourth consecutive Q2 appearance in qualifying, the first time that has happened since Adrian Sutil in 2015, and capped it off with a third top 10, capitalising on the early drama to finish P10.
It wasn’t easy for the Monegasque, however, as he overcame another smaller brake problem late on to hold off Pierre Gasly and Romain Grosjean but to cross the line and reach the 10-point mark for the season was a reason to cheer.
“I am extremely happy about it,” Leclerc said. “We were coming back from a brake issue in Monaco on probably the most difficult track for the brakes in Montreal.
“It was a very big challenge for us but we reacted very well. I am really proud of the work we have done.”
The 20-year-old, who is already living up to the hype he generated in junior formulae, admits he has been surprised by how well he has performed.
“I can’t believe that we are having such positive races,” he told the F1 website this week. “Actually that’s now four or five races that we are just having amazing results race after race.
“It’s great but we need to keep working and keep improving like we are doing and hopefully it will continue like that.”
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Leclerc does have some worries about upcoming races that he feels won’t necessarily suit Sauber.
“You just need more downforce on tracks like Le Castellet (Paul Ricard) or the four or five races that are after,” he explained. “That’s where we are lacking at the moment.
“We will work and hopefully we will improve but at the moment that is our downside.
“[But] I’m extremely happy with the races we’ve done until now. We’ve taken every opportunity we had to score points and about this, we should be very proud.”
