After a series of disappointing races caused by a drop in performance of the SF-24 following the arrival of the third development package at the Spanish GP, which did not produce the expected results, Ferrari seems to have begun showing signs of recovery starting from the Hungarian GP. This recovery is still modest, and the team is well aware of the work that remains to be done to return to the top. The turnaround began in Budapest, where, after several lost races, Ferrari’s technical staff introduced a new floor to partially resolve the bouncing issues that had arisen with the Barcelona spec. This step seems to have restored stability to the car, confidence to the drivers, and pointed the way forward.
The performance crisis that had halted Ferrari’s progress, which coincided with a slump for Charles Leclerc, who after his Monaco victory became somewhat overwhelmed by the car’s issues, appears to have been addressed. This belief, this change in trend, was confirmed at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort, where, despite negative expectations and a poor Friday, Charles Leclerc managed to finish the race with a brilliant and unexpected third place. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz crossed the finish line in fifth after a superb race that capped off a weekend full of problems and a disastrous qualifying. This result allows the racing department to look optimistically at the second half of the championship, also hoping for the effectiveness of the update package that will be introduced to the SF-24 at the Italian GP in Monza, which is expected to bring Ferrari back into contention for podiums and victories.
Charles Leclerc’s result, like that of the entire team, came at the end of a weekend that was far from free of difficulties—primarily technical ones related to making the SF-24 work on the ups and downs of the North Sea coast, but also physical issues experienced by the Monegasque driver himself. Specifically, Charles Leclerc had muscle problems in his arms due to the physical effort required to drive an F1 car and the g-forces to which drivers are subjected. These issues first appeared on Friday and only became evident at the end of the race when Charles’s race engineer, Bryan Bozzi, explicitly asked him how the race had gone. The race and qualifying had gone fairly smoothly for the number 16 driver, who then explained what he believed to be the cause of the problem: the limited or less-than-expected physical activity during the summer break, which, as happens to all of us, took its toll when certain muscles were called back into action. However, being very physically prepared, Charles Leclerc managed to overcome these issues brilliantly.
BOZZI: “How do your arms feel?”
LECLERC: “Much better! I think Friday was tough because it was the first day back after the holidays. Since yesterday, everything has been fine, and the race wasn’t too hard either.”
BOZZI: “Maybe for you! (laughs)”
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