Leclerc Labels Dutch GP Friday “Worst of the Season” as Ferrari Struggle for Pace

Charles Leclerc admitted Ferrari’s opening day at Zandvoort was “probably the worst Friday of the season” after struggling for pace during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Fresh from his surprise pole position in Hungary, Leclerc found himself well off the pace at Zandvoort, ending Free Practice 2 in eighth and almost a full second behind leader Lando Norris.

“I would sum it up as a very, very, very difficult Friday – probably the worst Friday of the season, which is right after the holidays, so it’s a bit of a wake-up call,” Leclerc said. “We’ve had some difficult Fridays and now it’s up to us to turn the situation around. But for sure, it’s not been an easy day. FP1 was extremely difficult. FP2 was slightly better but still very far off where we want to be.”

Leclerc highlighted that Ferrari is “losing basically 90% of the time in two corners” and admitted expectations for the weekend are low. “I don’t know. It’s a very strange season. I would never have said that I would be on pole in Budapest, so I don’t really want to fix myself targets today. I’m looking forward to trying to turn the situation around and trying to make a miracle tomorrow, but it’s not going to be an easy weekend.”

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Lewis Hamilton struck a more positive tone after finishing fifth in FP2, just 0.098s ahead of his teammate. “It’s not been the worst of days,” said the seven-time world champion. “We were obviously quite far off in FP1, a lot further than normal. The first lap felt pretty decent, and it was a bit of a challenge from then. We made some progress over lunch, so we progressed but were still quite a chunk off. We’ve got some work to do overnight.”

Hamilton’s day was interrupted by a pair of spins, but he downplayed the incidents. “I think the first one was just pushing too much. The ride quality was not where we would want it, because the car was quite unpredictable. The second one, I touched the grass and had a snap, and that was that. I was pushing, which is positive, I guess. Hopefully, no more.”

Ferrari will now work overnight to try and close the gap to McLaren and Aston Martin, with both drivers acknowledging that significant improvements are needed if they are to challenge at the front this weekend.

From F1 news to tech, history to opinions, F1 Chronicle has a free Substack. To deliver the stories you want straight to your inbox, click here.

New to Formula 1? Check out our Glossary of F1 Terms, and our Beginners Guide to Formula 1 to fast-track your F1 knowledge.