In the context of the Dutch GP, Charles Leclerc has shared his perspective on Ferrari’s controversial tire choice. The Monegasque driver, in a sprint race marked by little activity, managed to overtake Lando Norris and finished in second position.
Leclerc chose to start on soft tires, a decision that made him feel uncertain seeing that most of his competitors were using medium tires. ‘Whenever you are the only one doing something, you might be very right or very wrong,’ he admitted with a smile.
Despite the initial anxiety, the Monegasque assured that the tire choice was based on data collected during practice and the expectation that Ferrari could manage tire degradation well, at least in his situation. ‘I think in the end it was a good choice, so it’s a good sign that we’ve done our homework well during FP1,’ he commented.
The challenge of qualifying
Once the race was over, Leclerc emphasized that despite Ferrari’s good competitiveness in race pace, qualifying remains one of its weak points. In the last two practice sessions, he had shown good long-run pace with medium tires, but he acknowledges that in qualifying the team needs to improve.
The driver reflected on the importance of grid position in Zandvoort, as, as deployment strategies come closer, overtaking becomes an especially complicated task. ‘We’re talking about making a faster car for the race or for qualifying, but it’s not so black and white,’ he said. Leclerc concluded that currently there are no immediate solutions to improve qualifying, but he trusts in his vehicle’s capabilities.
Even so, he managed to qualify third on the grid, just 0.055 seconds behind the first, George Russell, and stated he would fight to maintain a good position in the next race. Leclerc concludes the analysis of his performance with an optimistic attitude, despite the difficulties he has faced.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
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