Charles Leclerc was involved in an incident during Q3 at Zandvoort, which will see him start from the ninth position on tomorrow’s grid. While he acknowledges his error, he attributes the difficulty and unpredictability of driving the SF-23 as contributing factors.
If at the end of the Dutch Grand Prix qualifying, the phrase echoing in Charles Leclerc’s ears was “I still haven’t found what we’re looking for,” it wouldn’t be related to the famous U2 song, but rather another realization of what is missing for Ferrari to at least contend as the second-strongest force in the 2023 calendar on any track.
During the qualifying session held this afternoon at Zandvoort, the Ferrari driver ended up securing the ninth position, a result of an error that led him to crash at Turn 9, prematurely ending his hopes of a strong result in tomorrow’s race.
After navigating the preceding right-hand turn, Charles Leclerc found the racing line but encountered understeer due to the challenges that have plagued the SF-23 since the first practice sessions yesterday. At that point, the Monegasque driver attempted to correct his trajectory after slightly losing the rear end (a transition from understeer to oversteer), but in doing so, he lost the racing line and veered off track, colliding with the barriers on the outside of Turn 9.
At the end of the qualifying session which was held at the Zandvoort circuit located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, Charles Leclerc took responsibility for the incident but also explained the reason behind the correction he made in Q3, which ultimately resulted in the crash.
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“I had the chance to review the on-board footage of the incident. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary like I did in Miami, for instance. The SF-23, for this weekend, is really challenging to drive. We alternate between having a lot of understeer and a lot of oversteer, especially in these conditions,” Charles told Sky Sport F1.
“We need to try to improve as quickly as possible, that’s it. For now, it’s very tough to understand and even predict the car’s behavior in corners. We’ve struggled with Turns 9 and 10 from the initial laps yesterday. We identified those as points to focus on for improvement, but so far, we haven’t found what we need.”
“Today, there are no excuses; I drive the car, and I made a mistake. However, I have to say that driving the car this weekend is genuinely challenging.”
Ferrari has approached this weekend with differing levels of downforce compared to their rivals. The choice is due to a lack of components that could provide the SF-23 with the right balance of downforce, leading them to select the most suitable package from the options available to the Maranello team. It’s evident, however, that this approach may not suffice to achieve notable results.
“I know the level of downforce we’ve chosen for this track might be surprising, but we are well aware of the packages we have, and we are confident this is the right choice. Unfortunately, it’s the best choice among the options we have right now. Now we need to look ahead and develop a package that suits these types of tracks better, which we currently lack. But that’s how it is.”
Charles Leclerc’s final comment, tied to his expectations for tomorrow’s race, is telling. Zandvoort is not conducive to overtaking, and given the SF-23’s lack of competitiveness, Leclerc isn’t harboring many hopes of a substantial comeback: “The race will be an uphill battle. It’s a track where overtaking is difficult. We’ll see.”
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