Leclerc surprised by Ferrari’s Dutch GP performance

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari doesn’t perceive the way it grew to become so aggressive in race trim on the Dutch Grand Prix, after being stunned to complete third at Zandvoort.

Ferrari had a tricky weekend earlier than the race, with Leclerc qualifying sixth and Carlos Sainz failing to succeed in Q3, however each vehicles made spectacular progress on Sunday to rise to 3rd and fifth respectively. Leclerc was capable of maintain off Oscar Piastri for the ultimate podium spot and crossed the road simply 2.5 seconds behind Max Verstappen, however is at a loss as to the place Ferrari’s efficiency got here from.

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“That may be a excellent query, and I feel the perfect query can also be to grasp why we have been 9 tenths off [in qualifying] and abruptly fairly sturdy [in the race],” Leclerc mentioned. “The automotive is precisely the identical. [In qualifying] we’ve been struggling like loopy. [In the race], we have been sturdy. And these are the sort of issues that we’ve started working on.

“I feel as a lot as we analyze each dangerous surprises we’ve throughout a season, we additionally want to grasp after we do one thing good. For now, I don’t assume as a crew we’ve the reason. So it’s a fantastic end result. I’m actually blissful to be standing on the rostrum. And I feel it’s a extremely good shock. Nevertheless, we’ve acquired to grasp as a way to carry out extra usually at our greatest.”

Piastri had been working forward of Leclerc at the beginning of the race however Ferrari pulled off an early first pit cease to undercut each the McLaren and George Russell. Whereas Piastri rapidly cleared Russell after his personal cease he couldn’t get previous Leclerc, one thing that additionally stunned the Ferrari driver.

“It wasn’t [easy], as a result of my engineer was telling me about Oscar’s lap time, which when he was in free air was fairly a bit faster than me, I feel practically a second. Then when he acquired nearer, I began to push a bit extra and achieve 5 tenths. And I feel with the soiled air, he in all probability misplaced three or 4 tenths.

“He managed to remain behind and to place me fairly below stress for 2, three laps, however then couldn’t keep there due to the overheating. It was a extremely good technique. I didn’t anticipate to maintain that third place till the tip, however we did a extremely good job as a crew. I don’t assume there was something extra we may have completed.”

With the Italian Grand Prix at Monza this coming weekend, Leclerc admits he’s discovering it powerful to have an thought how Ferrari will carry out as it’ll deliver upgrades to its dwelling race.

“Once more, it’s very, very troublesome to foretell. If you should have requested me that query [on Saturday], I’ll have informed you it is going to be very troublesome. [Now] is significantly better. If we handle to grasp what’s happening with our automotive, then I’m fairly optimistic concerning the future. However for now, we don’t fairly have the understanding but.

“We’ve acquired an improve coming very quickly. Now I can say often because Fred [Vasseur] mentioned it, so it is going to be in Monza. And that, I hope, will assist us and assist us shut the hole. However till the upgrades, I at all times mentioned that the precedence for us was simply to do a harm limitation. And [at Zandvoort], we have been focusing on P6.

“Realistically, I feel on paper, that’s what we have been preventing for. Nevertheless, after three, 4 laps, the tempo was there. And we may do P3, which is an effective shock once more. So good factors. Nevertheless, now I simply hope that the upgrades helps us to do a step ahead.”