Charles Leclerc (6th) admits to Ferrari error: “The engine was behaving strangely”

A spirited drive by Charles Leclerc in the Zandvoort Sprint set the Tifosi’s hearts racing, and expectations were correspondingly high for the final practice session ahead of the traditional Dutch Grand Prix. And then this: Lewis Hamilton only in fifth on the grid, Charles Leclerc as low as P6 – mamma mia!

It’s not just the grid positions that give pause for thought: Ferrari were four tenths of a second slower than pole-sitter Lando Norris in the McLaren – something clearly wasn’t quite right there.

Was it perhaps Ferrari’s strategy that was to blame – running two warm-up laps with both drivers at the end of Q3, rather than going for it straight away after one?

Nine-time Grand Prix winner Leclerc reckons: “No, our result has nothing to do with the way we prepared for the final race. We simply weren’t quick enough in this qualifying session.”

“I get the impression that things went very well for us on Friday and also in the sprint, but our rivals made the odd mistake here and there and were therefore able to improve further in qualifying.”

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“From my point of view, we messed up our engine strategy today. We changed a few things during qualifying, which is never ideal, and the end result was that the engine was behaving strangely.”

“Of course, this qualifying result hasn’t made life any easier for us. But we won’t let ourselves get discouraged that easily. We showed good pace in the sprint, and I see no reason why we shouldn’t find that again in the Grand Prix.”