Charles Leclerc has revealed that Ferrari made changes to its power unit strategy during Dutch Grand Prix qualifying that ultimately worked against him in Q3, with the Monegasque describing unusual behaviour from the SF-26 as he had to settle for sixth place at Zandvoort.
The result was a disappointing turnaround after Charles Leclerc had finished second in the Sprint earlier on Saturday, a performance that had significantly raised expectations surrounding Ferrari’s potential heading into the main qualifying session. Instead, the Scuderia was unable to reproduce the same level of competitiveness when the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix was decided.
Charles Leclerc will start the 72-lap race from the third row alongside team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who qualified fifth. More significantly, the Monegasque ended qualifying around four tenths away from Lando Norris’ pole position time, a considerably larger gap than Ferrari had faced during the previous day’s Sprint Qualifying.
Charles Leclerc rules out tyre preparation as the main problem
Ferrari had arrived at qualifying encouraged by Charles Leclerc’s performance in the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix Sprint, where he climbed from third on the grid to second place. That result suggested the SF-26 had the pace to play a meaningful role near the front at Zandvoort.
During the final Q3 attempt, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both completed a double tyre-preparation lap despite the sky threatening imminent rain. However, the approach did not deliver the performance Ferrari had hoped for.
After qualifying, Charles Leclerc dismissed the suggestion that this tyre-preparation sequence had been decisive.
“I don’t think it was related to the double preparation lap,” Charles Leclerc said after qualifying in the Netherlands. “The pace simply wasn’t there today. The fact is that yesterday everything went perfectly for us, while our rivals had more margin than we did because they made mistakes here and there.”
That assessment helps explain why the picture changed so substantially between the Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying. Ferrari had maximised its opportunity earlier in the weekend, while some of its rivals had not extracted everything available from their cars. Once those competitors produced cleaner performances, the margins became less favourable for the Maranello team.
Ferrari power unit strategy changes caused problems in Q3
Beyond the improvement made by Ferrari’s rivals and the mistakes during qualifying, Charles Leclerc identified another factor that he believes directly affected his performance at the most important stage of the afternoon: changes made to the power unit strategy during the session.
“Today, though, we got the engine strategy slightly wrong,” Charles Leclerc explained. “We changed some things during qualifying and that’s never optimal, because when we arrived in Q3 the power unit did some slightly strange things.”
The comments provide important additional context to Ferrari’s sudden loss of performance in the final phase. An earlier analysis of Ferrari’s Dutch GP qualifying performance had already highlighted hybrid energy deployment as one of the possible areas behind the team’s Q3 drop, alongside tyre activation and changing temperatures.
Ferrari’s management of hybrid energy has been a notable technical theme during the Zandvoort weekend. The team had previously identified potential gains in this area after narrowly missing Sprint pole, with the SF-26’s energy usage forming part of Ferrari’s continuing effort to maximise performance around the lap. The latest developments can also be followed through our dedicated analysis of Ferrari’s hybrid energy gains at Zandvoort.
Starting sixth makes Charles Leclerc’s Dutch GP much harder
The difference between starting third and sixth is particularly significant at Zandvoort. As the 24-lap Sprint demonstrated, overtaking around Max Verstappen’s home circuit can be extremely difficult. Recovering positions is not impossible, but making substantial progress through the field is a much more complicated task when cars are closely matched on pace.
Charles Leclerc acknowledged that Ferrari’s qualifying result had made Sunday’s challenge more difficult, although he remained encouraged by the race pace demonstrated by the SF-26.
“This result certainly makes life more difficult for us in tomorrow’s race, but it’s also true that we have 72 laps to do and, with the pace we have shown, anything is possible,” Charles Leclerc said. “But it will certainly be more difficult.”
That leaves Ferrari facing a very different task from the one that appeared possible after the Sprint. Charles Leclerc had shown that the SF-26 could be competitive over a race distance, but sixth on the grid places greater importance on strategy, execution and any opportunities that emerge during the Grand Prix.
For the Monegasque, the frustration is that the decisive setback appears to have arrived not simply because of the car’s underlying pace, but after Ferrari altered its power unit strategy during qualifying. With Lewis Hamilton starting directly alongside him on the third row, both Ferrari drivers will now need to convert the pace shown elsewhere during the weekend into progress on a circuit where overtaking is far from straightforward. More coverage of Charles Leclerc’s weekend and Ferrari performances is available in our dedicated Charles Leclerc section.
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