Leclerc 'extremely happy' with unexpected podium in Zandvoort

Charles Leclerc hadn't gone into Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix with great expectations, after a distinctly lacklustre time in practice and qualifying at Zandvoort.

Leclerc ended up claiming sixth place on the grid for Sunday's race, which he reckoned was the best that he could have hoped for. And when it came to the race, his best hope was to stay there to the finish.

The dryer, brighter conditions for the race itself seemed to give the SF-24 a new lease of life, and it looked distinctly lively from the moment that the lights went out and Leclerc picked up a spot from Red Bull's Sergio Perez.

"I knew that the first lap was an opportunity for us to gain one or two positions," Leclerc said. “I went for pass, it all worked well, but I didn’t know that later on we would also have the pace to keep him behind."

Leclerc spent the first part of the race behind George Russell in the Mercedes before pitting at the end of lap 24. Russell responded immediately, but still managed to come out behind Leclerc.

• Read also: Peerless Norris rises to the challenge in Zandvoort

Leclerc was not able to keep Russell in his rear view mirror, he also picked up another position when Oscar Piastri subsequently pitted from the lead and dropped back in behind him, but now on fresher, faster tyres.

Even though the McLaren was the quickest car this weekend, Piastri couldn't find a way to pass Leclerc during the course of the remaining 38 laps, and it was Leclerc who ended up joining Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on the podium.

"It's not often that I would say I am happy with a P3, but today, I am extremely happy with the job the team has done on such a difficult weekend," he beamed in post-race media interviews.

"We struggled in all sessions since FP1, but managed to put it all together when it matters most," he said. "We found the pace we needed, executed a perfect strategy, undercut our competitors and kept them behind."

Leclerc said he hoped this marked the turning point for the team, which has been struggling since a floor upgrade introduced in Spain failed to deliver the expected performance boost.

"We’ve had three or four races ago where we were experimenting quite a lot to try and understand what were the fundamental issues of our car for the development, medium-term," he explained.

“We’ve got an upgrade coming very soon and that, I hope, will help us and help us close the gap," he said. “But until the upgrades, I always said that the priority for us was just to do a damage limitation.

"Today we were targeting P6, and realistically I think on paper that’s what we were fighting for," he admitted. “However after three, four laps, the pace was there and we could do P3, which is a good surprise."

But while he was happy about the upturn, the issue of why the car should behave differently from Saturday to Sunday was a puzzle to everyone at Ferrari.

"The big question is to understand why we were nine tenths off yesterday and suddenly pretty strong today,” he said. “The car is exactly the same, but yesterday we were struggling like crazy and today we were strong.

"These are the kind of things that we’ve got to work on," he argued. “As much as we analyse every bad surprise we have during a season, we also need to understand when we do something good.

“For now I don’t think as a team we have the explanation," he admitted. "It’s a great result, I’m really happy to be standing on the podium, and I think it’s a really good surprise.

"But we’ve got to understand in order to perform more often at our best," he insisted. "Now I just hope that the upgrades [scheduled to be introduced next week in Monza] help us to make a step forward.”

Today's result was just as unexpected for Leclerc's team mate Carlos Sainz, who started from tenth on the grid and climbed to P5 by the end of the race.

“It was a bit of a surprise for me, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I would have never expected to be able to pass a Red Bull and a Mercedes at a track like this, but it’s true that our pace today was really, really strong.

"I felt very at home in the car since the laps to the grid and I at least thought that we might have a chance to make a bit of a comeback. So yeah, I enjoyed that one.”

“Points are given on Sundays so I’d rather have a car that allows me to attack on Sunday, but we need to find the right trade-off and the right balance between quali and the race.”

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