F1 | Ferrari surprisingly consistent: Leclerc on the podium

Ferrari, who on Saturday in qualifying had remedied nine tenths from the pole position, failing to go beyond sixth position, after the seventy-two laps of the Dutch Grand Prix placed itself on the podium. There were no retirements or errors by the opponents, the third place conquered by Charles Leclerc came on performance, with a gap at the finish line of only two and a half seconds from Max Verstappen.

It has been known for some time that the SF-24 is more of a racing animal than a qualifying one, but on the eve of the race it was Leclerc himself who indicated sixth place as the best possible result.

“I often say that sometimes it’s the details that make the difference,” explained Frederic Vasseur, “in a positive or negative way. When you’re lacking a bit of performance, you can push too hard and cause the tyres to fail, then maybe you try to compensate with aggressive strategic choices and you get even deeper into a negative spiral. Today, on the contrary, everything went in the right direction.”

Things went well from the start in Zandvoort, with Leclerc able to overtake Sergio Perez at the start. It was a key move in the Monegasque’s race, along with a very effective undercut on lap 25.

“We had planned to stop on lap 26,” Vasseur explained. “We came one lap early, it wasn’t a risk in terms of tyre management.” The early pit stop allowed Leclerc to pass both Russell and Piastri, but while it was immediately clear that the Mercedes driver didn’t have the pace to recover the position, with Piastri Leclerc’s fate seemed already written.

After the pit stop (Oscar stopped on lap 33) the gap between McLaren and Ferrari was eight seconds, a margin that Piastri eliminated in ten laps. The overtaking seemed like a routine, but Leclerc began to shape his little ‘miracle’ by fending off the first assaults.

Ferrari proved to be consistent and, after failing in the first overtaking attempts, McLaren saw the tyre gap in its favour disappear. At that point, Piastri’s only chance of grabbing the podium was a drop in performance from Leclerc’s hard set, but Charles responded lap after lap without any problems.
“I don’t want to go into technical details, but it’s a question of tyre management,” Vasseur added, “from the window where we put the tyres, and from the first lap we saw that we were in a good position. When you are in this position you can push a bit more without risking damaging the tyres. I was a bit scared in the early stages, when Charles was behind Russell and I was afraid that he could have problems in the final phase of the stint, but we saw that everything went well.”

Somewhat surprisingly, Ferrari fielded a very well-balanced car, despite having to do without Carlos Sainz on Friday, who was hampered by a transmission problem. There was less data available than usual (some in the paddock joked that perhaps it was a stroke of luck) and the changes to the setup proved to be impeccable, allowing the Scuderia to leave Zandvoort with twenty-five points, one less than Red Bull and fifteen more than Mercedes.

Sainz’s great comeback race, starting from tenth position, also contributed to the haul. Carlos set up a comeback race that took him to seventh place after eleven laps, the position that on the eve of the race was indicated as the best possible result.

Carlos Sainz during the pit stop: the Spaniard finished fifth after starting tenth

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Sainz went further, getting the better of Russell and on lap 47, Perez, with a beautiful pass on the outside of the Tarzan. “I didn’t expect it,” Carlos admitted, “after qualifying I was a bit pessimistic and a bit disappointed, but today the car with a full tank of fuel immediately seemed better than yesterday’s qualifying. In the end I was six or seven seconds off the top three, which was a really good performance. Being able to overtake a Red Bull on a hard track like this shows that the car was in an optimal operating window, and for my part I think I drove really well. I’m very proud of that.”

Having overcome the much-feared ‘Zandvoort’ obstacle, Ferrari is now looking to Monza, where the long-awaited package of technical innovations will arrive, which should allow the Scuderia to return to fighting for the podium with continuity and without surprises.

The possible objectives will become clear after the stages of Monza, Baku and Singapore, and even if at the moment imagining a Ferrari capable of annoying McLaren (the closest rival in the Constructors’ standings) is a prediction that seems very risky, the history of this season so far has shown that even certainties must be taken with a pinch of salt. This is what Leclerc, Sainz and the entire Scuderia are hoping for.