Red Alert
Friday’s return to the tracks was nothing short of worrisome for Ferrari at the Zandvoort circuit, where the first two free practice sessions of the Dutch Grand Prix were held after the summer break that began almost a month ago. In the Netherlands, none of the three drivers of the Prancing Horse who took to the track managed to shake off the worries that are currently tormenting the Maranello team, due to times well below the expectations of a top team and evident difficulties in controlling the car.
Carlos Sainz at the Back
In FP1, neither Charles Leclerc nor rookie Robert Shwartzman managed to break into the top 10, and the same phenomenon reoccurred in the afternoon session for both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who returned to the track after handing over his cockpit to the Israeli rookie. Specifically, car #55 set only the 16th fastest time, ending up in the gravel trap twice due to a Ferrari that highlighted problems mainly related to the setup. These difficulties, according to Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur, are indeed linked to this aspect, which is, however, part of a planned modification that Ferrari wanted to test during Friday at Zandvoort.
The Uncertainties of Zandvoort
In this way, there would therefore be a motivation behind these lackluster performances of the Prancing Horse, even though Sainz hasn’t hidden his concerns while awaiting tomorrow’s qualifying: “It was not an easy Friday for the team, and losing the first practice session didn’t make my day any easier,” he admitted. “Despite this, in the second session, I easily got into the rhythm, although it’s true that we seem to struggle quite a bit in terms of pace as well as car balance. This track doesn’t seem to suit us so far this weekend, but we will work to make solid progress in preparation for tomorrow.”
Leave a Reply