Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc delivered a brutally honest self-assessment after Saturday’s Dutch Grand Prix qualifying, admitting that his performance had fallen well short of expectations.
The Monegasque, who has been mired in the midfield throughout the weekend, was left 0.678s off polesitter Oscar Piastri as Ferrari’s struggles continued against runaway leader McLaren, but also against its other direct rivals.
Despite significant overnight changes to the Italian outfit’s SF-25, Leclerc felt pointed to personal errors and a challenging weekend as key factors in his underwhelming performance, while team principal Fred Vasseur highlighted systemic issues that continue to plague the Scuderia’s campaign.
“I'm very disappointed with myself, to be honest,” Leclerc told Sky Sports in the aftermath of the session.
“I haven't done the job today and I've been very poor. The whole weekend has been a little bit on the backfoot on my side. I've been trying to change and to chase something that maybe wasn't in the car this weekend for one reason or another.
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“We were losing a lot of lap time in two, three corners. I guess that kind of stayed the same during qualifying. Not to an extreme extent as much as in free practice but still we were losing.
“By trying to find something that wasn't in the car, I think the consistency of the weekend had been hurt a little bit, and I just didn't do a good job, especially in qualifying – I'm really not happy with my Q3 lap.”
Searching for What Isn’t There
Leclerc will line up behind both McLarens, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls, the surprise of the session, and George Russell’s Mercedes.
Asked to compare his car to the machine that carried him to pole in Hungary, Leclerc didn’t hesitate.
“A lot,” he said, before stressing the fine margins that determine grid positions in modern F1.“Also, the fact that in two, three-tenths, it can go from a nightmare to actually having a good starting position.
“You've got to be perfect, and this weekend we have been far from it.”
Vasseur Calls for Stronger Fridays
Team principal Fred Vasseur echoed his driver’s concerns, warning that Ferrari’s slow starts to race weekends are leaving them with too much ground to make up when it matters.
“We need to do a better job on Friday because looking to make a one second step up is too much in terms of set-up and too much for the drivers,” Vasseur said.
"At this track, it’s difficult to find the right balance and the correct approach for the tyres. The layout of the track with the corners from 7 to 10 puts a lot of load on the tyres and if you are over the limit you can lose a lot in the final part.
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“It’s a bit frustrating as I feel P4 could have been possible, but Charles admitted he made a mistake at turn 10. Lewis has had a very good weekend so far but it’s the same story as Charles, in that we started from too far back from yesterday when we were not in the right set-up window.”
Despite the disappointment, Vasseur sees reason for optimism heading into Sunday’s race.
"I think we have a good opportunity to do well tomorrow as our race pace seems okay,” he said. “McLaren are far ahead but then it’s close between ourselves, Verstappen and Russell, so it will come down to strategy and tyre management."
Read also: Hamilton credits ‘different approach’ for improved Ferrari form
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