Ferrari one day too late to be the best of the rest
Charles Leclerc blamed himself for a mistake that may have cost him fourth place on the grid in Zandvoort qualifying. But once again, the Monegasque driver is shouldering responsibility for issues that are not entirely his fault. The SF-25 that rolled out on Friday was almost undriveable, and only after a night of set-up work did Ferrari find a direction. By then, it was already too late.
It’s not the first time Leclerc has acted as a lightning rod for criticism, but his words only tell part of the story of Ferrari’s Dutch Grand Prix weekend. Overnight, between Friday and Saturday, the Scuderia’s engineers had to overhaul multiple set-up parameters, effectively “flipping” the car after negative feedback from FP1 and FP2.
The changes brought results. The car’s handling improved, as both Leclerc and Hamilton confirmed during FP3. But there was still time to make up — and in situations like this, the real cost is losing the gradual fine-tuning work that drivers usually complete lap after lap. Those small refinements often make the crucial difference between a strong qualifying and a disappointing one.
Leclerc’s error, but Ferrari’s wider problem
It’s one thing to start that process on Friday, and quite another to begin 24 hours later. Charles Leclerc did make an error at Turn 10 during his flying lap, but the reality is that neither he nor Lewis Hamilton had the ideal conditions to extract the full potential from the car.
“We started from too far back,” admitted team principal Frédéric Vasseur. “We need to do a better job on Friday, because trying to recover a second is too much, both in terms of set-up and for the drivers. On this track it’s very difficult to find the right balance and tyre approach. From Turns 7 to 10 the tyres are heavily stressed, and if you push over the limit you can lose a lot of time in the final sector.”
The realistic target for Ferrari
Realistically, Ferrari’s aim for the remainder of the season is to be ready to take opportunities when they come. To do that, the team needs to consistently position itself as the “best of the rest,” right behind the dominant McLaren MCL39 cars.
That role, however, hasn’t been within Ferrari’s reach so far in Zandvoort. Even so, Fred Vasseur remains cautiously optimistic. “I think tomorrow we’ll have a good chance to do well,” he confirmed. “Our race pace looks strong. McLaren are very far ahead, but between us, Max Verstappen, and George Russell the fight is very close. Everything will depend on strategy and tyre management.”
Encouraging signs from Hamilton
On the other side of the garage, there were some positive signs from Lewis Hamilton. The Briton finished just five hundredths behind Charles Leclerc in qualifying, but beyond the numbers he has seemed more comfortable with the SF-25 since Friday. “Today it was difficult to get the car into the right performance window,” Lewis commented. “In FP3 we showed promising pace on the medium tyre, but we couldn’t fully translate that into qualifying. That said, after the summer break our priority was to keep making progress, and today was an encouraging step in the right direction. On this circuit overtaking is always tough, so if tomorrow brings mixed weather conditions, hopefully that can create opportunities and make the race exciting for the fans.”
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