(Motorsport-Total.com) – Charles Leclerc finished the sprint qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix with a strong third place. In the Ferrari, the Monegasque was only 0.055 seconds behind pole-sitter George Russell in the Mercedes in SQ3, who set the best time with 1:11.567 minutes. Lando Norris in the McLaren also slipped between Russell and Leclerc.
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Leclerc is very satisfied with his performance despite missing out on pole. “Honestly, I think it was one of my best, if not my best qualifying lap this year,” said the Ferrari driver after the session.
“That means we are doing something right – also in terms of the feeling in the car. That doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever, but at least these are always steps in the right direction.”
Especially after the long summer break, this aspect is important for Leclerc. After several weeks without Formula 1 action, the Ferrari driver first had to get used to the car and the rhythm again. Apparently, he succeeded quickly.
“After such a long break, you get that feeling for the car again to start the second half of the season. It was a good piece of work,” says Leclerc. Although he “unfortunately” missed pole, Ferrari is “more or less within the limits.”
Ferrari with question marks on race pace
That Leclerc was so competitive in qualifying is particularly interesting for Ferrari because the team had already made a strong impression in the first free practice. Especially the long runs of the Scuderia were positively evaluated in the paddock. This makes Ferrari a candidate for the sprint on Saturday who might perform even stronger over race distance than over a single lap.
Leclerc himself does not want to commit on race pace yet. The conditions in practice were difficult, and the team had only limited opportunities to focus on race setup due to the sprint format.
“Regarding race pace, it is a bit more difficult. The conditions this morning were a bit tricky. So we have to wait for the sprint,” explains the Monegasque. His overall conclusion is still positive: “For the moment, it looks like a positive start to the weekend.”
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That should give Ferrari hope. Because while Leclerc landed just behind Russell and the McLaren in qualifying, it remains to be seen whether Mercedes can defend this position over 24 laps. Russell himself pointed to Ferrari’s strong race pace after his pole and said that the Scuderia looked “exceptionally strong” in practice.
Hamilton experiences a completely different Ferrari feeling
For Lewis Hamilton, Friday was significantly more disappointing. The seven-time world champion only managed seventh place in the sprint qualifying, losing 0.624 seconds to Russell’s pole time. With a 1:12.191, Hamilton was also clearly behind his teammate.
However, the start initially looked promising. “The first practice felt good,” explains Hamilton. Afterwards, Ferrari only made minor adjustments to the car – but in qualifying, the car suddenly felt completely different.
“We made some minor changes to the car, but then we came into qualifying and it was a completely different car,” Hamilton describes. “We have to find out what went wrong.”
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The Briton therefore sees mainly analysis work ahead for his team. “We look at the data and then make a decision,” says Hamilton. The comparison with Leclerc is also interesting because his car showed different behavior.
For Hamilton, the starting position is therefore more difficult. While Leclerc could fight directly for the sprint pole, the veteran has to work his way forward from seventh place. Especially in Zandvoort, this is not an easy task: The track is narrow, fast, and offers only a few clear overtaking opportunities.
For Hamilton, the goal now is to find the cause of the sudden performance loss. “We just have to go through the data and find out what happened,” is his motto. Afterwards, it will be decided which adjustments make sense for the rest of the weekend.
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