Although the Formula 1 sprint race at Zandvoort produced very little action, Charles Leclerc was responsible for one of the few overtakes. The Monegasque managed to pass Lando Norris for second place, where he eventually finished.
According to Leclerc, that overtake primarily came about because of differences in deployment, although given Leclerc’s tyre choice, it was still remarkable that he was able to complete a pass on lap 18 of 24.
After all, Leclerc was one of only two drivers who opted to start the shortest race of the weekend on soft tyres. That choice was based on data from practice and the fact that Ferrari generally looks good in terms of tyre degradation this weekend, at least on Leclerc’s side.
Nevertheless, Leclerc admitted he was somewhat concerned on the grid when he saw all the drivers around him lining up on mediums.
"Always when you are the only one doing something, it’s either very right or very wrong," Leclerc smiled.
"I think it was a good choice in the end, so that’s positive. It means that we did our homework well in FP1, but surely when I was on the grid, I just hoped to have made the right choice."
Leclerc surprised the other teams by maintaining a good race pace even at the end of the sprint race
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
The decision was made together with the team, although Leclerc stresses that it was not an easy one.
"Well, it wasn't because we had Lewis [Hamilton] and I on two different strategies. So surely it wasn't obvious.
"But I thought that it was a good tyre after FP1, even though I had done very few laps and I wasn't so comfortable with the medium. So yeah, I was happy with that choice."
Pirelli already indicated on Friday that the C3 and C4 are fairly close in terms of durability, with only the hardest compound available this weekend, the C2, representing a significant step.
Why Leclerc feels qualifying is a weakness Ferrari can’t fix in Zandvoort
Aside from the tyre choice, the sprint primarily underlined what Leclerc already thought on Friday: Ferrari’s race pace is good, but qualifying is proving more difficult.
"I think our pace had been quite strong yesterday in FP1 on the long runs, which we did on the medium, so we knew we had a good race car.
"However, in qualifying we are lacking a little bit. I was expecting to make positions at the start rather than at the end of the race with these soft tyres, but yeah, it was quite a good race."
Leclerc impressed on Friday with the third-fastest time, but still believes qualifying is one of Ferrari’s weaknesses
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
As the deployment strategies converge, Leclerc believes overtaking will be virtually impossible at Zandvoort. That makes qualifying position crucial and raises the question of whether Ferrari could sacrifice some race pace in order to improve its speed over a single lap.
"I think we often speak about how to make a car faster for a race or qualifying, but I don't think it's that black and white," Leclerc said when asked by Motorsport.com.
"I think you always try to make the car as fast as possible, and if you do that, then that's positive for qualifying and the race. Then there are slight finetuning things that you can do, but I wouldn't say it's a game changer, it's not always black and white.
"So, to reply to your question, I don't think there's anything we can do at the moment to fix it and have a better car in qualifying. We know it is a weakness, but we just didn't find the solution just yet."
Despite Leclerc describing qualifying as a weakness for Ferrari, he still managed to secure third on the grid for the sprint, just 0.055 seconds behind polesitter George Russell.
However, a repeat is far from guaranteed, he stresses, as Leclerc’s SQ3 lap was particularly strong.
"I think yesterday I did a really good lap and the car felt really good as well. So I'll be surprised if we start from pole tomorrow, but I'll do everything in my power to make it happen."
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Originally published by motorsport.com —
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