Ferrari's weak performance in Canada is a one-off, says Sainz

While Max Verstappen and Red Bull celebrated a hard-fought victory, Ferrari experienced a weekend to forget in Montreal.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc both failed to see the chequered flag, underscoring the Scuderia's unexpected lack of competitiveness.

Sainz's struggles

For Sainz, the Canadian Grand Prix was an exercise in damage limitation from the outset.

He spent much of the race mired outside the top 10, unable to extract the necessary pace from his SF-23.

A spin and contact with Alex Albon at Turn 6 compounded his woes, forcing the Williams driver's retirement.

"It was one of those races where the pace never clicked,"

rued Sainz.

"We had some damage in the car from a couple of contacts...but there was never really enough pace today to make any overtakes."

A fleeting glimmer

Only when the circuit dried and teams switched to slick tyres did Sainz sense a potential resurgence.

However, his efforts to make progress resulted in another off, ending his race prematurely.

"I was just trying to take some risks...probably touched maybe the wet,"

he explained.

"It was a very weak, very disappointing weekend for the whole team because we never seemed to find a good pace."

Power unit woes for Leclerc

Teammate Leclerc's plight was no better, hamstrung by a power unit issue that afflicted him from the start.

Despite attempts to mitigate the problem, he was a "sitting duck" on the straights, losing over a second per lap at times.

"I didn't know what I will get - and that was, first of all, very difficult to drive, very frustrating because in the straight, I would get overtaken by everybody,"

said the Monegasque.

A One-Off Blip? While the double non-score dented Ferrari's championship aspirations, Sainz remains adamant their Montreal struggles were an anomaly.

"I think Canada was a bit of a one-off, a bit of a special one and we need to understand what happened as a team,"

he stated.

"There was clearly something the others were doing in qualifying with the tyres to prep them better."