Carlos Sainz sixth over a second behind Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc ninth after the incident in Q3: The Scuderia struggles in the Netherlands with an SF-23 that’s difficult to handle, changing behavior from corner to corner. The red car is the only one tackling Zandvoort with a medium-downforce rear wing, when profiles similar to Monte Carlo are needed. The engineers couldn’t find the aerodynamic balance of the car, and there were numerous straight-line struggles for the two drivers at turn 1 due to the lack of necessary downforce.
Looking at the Zandvoort qualifying results, it’s clear that the first six positions belong to six different teams. In this mini-ranking, Ferrari is sixth, confirming a weekend that started with problems and continued without apparent changes in pace.
The SF-23 seemed very challenging to drive, and this was confirmed by seven off-track excursions at turn 1 (mostly by Charles Leclerc), where the Ferrari seems to have the highest speed but lacks the stability to properly handle braking. The decision not to go with the high-downforce configuration was already seen yesterday and confirmed today, a difference that stands out in comparison to their direct competitors.
Charles Leclerc was cryptic about this approach (“Yes, we’re in a different configuration compared to most of our competitors, but we know that for our car, this is the best package, and I don’t have much else to say”), while Sainz offered a better explanation. “We know our high-downforce rear wings don’t work as they should,” admitted Carlos, and the result is that on track types like Zandvoort, the two SF-23s slide more compared to their rivals, making them very challenging to manage.
One’s mind goes back to the Hungaroring weekend, a period when the SF-23 was expected to perform well on a high-downforce track, which on paper should have been friendly, but in reality proved much more challenging than anticipated.
Charles Leclerc’s qualifying session concluded after the first 4 minutes of Q3 due to an off-track excursion at turn 9. “From FP1, we struggled in turns 1, 9, and 10,” commented the Monegasque. “We completely changed the car, and honestly, there’s not much that helped us in these sections. Both at 9 and 10, you enter the corner, release the brakes, and you don’t feel any grip at all. You try to trust it, hoping to find grip on exit, but in the lap I went off, it wasn’t like that, and of course, I ended up hitting the wall. We’ve driven in similar conditions before, but this weekend, the car is extremely difficult to drive. In Formula 1, you drive anticipating the car’s reactions, but right now, I have no idea if I’ll have massive understeer or massive oversteer, and that makes things very, very difficult.”
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What can Ferrari aim for in tomorrow’s race? Some suggest that Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc might have good top speed, but it seems like pre-race talk. While the two red cars have consistently topped the ‘top speed’ chart, Zandvoort is a track where time is gained in the first and second sectors, and without the right performance in these sections, there’s a risk of seeing opponents pull away.
The tire management doubt remains as well. A sliding car inevitably raises temperatures, triggering a degradation process that isn’t the best companion for a driver facing a race. Moreover, the sixth and ninth positions that Sainz and Leclerc will occupy on the starting grid aren’t exactly springboards that easily propel them into the podium zone. “It’s not realistic to think about a top-3,” confirmed the Monegasque. “A fifth position would already be good.”
In the context of his weekend, Carlos Sainz didn’t appear as disappointed with the sixth place. After skipping the first free practice session and participating in a wet final free practice session, Carlos only managed 31 laps on dry in FP2. “I think I would have signed up for a third-row placement before qualifying,” Sainz confirmed. “You’ve all seen that this weekend has been tough for us. Some made mistakes, and we managed to take advantage, so it’s not bad.”
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