Charles Leclerc put Ferrari in the fight for the top positions this Friday by securing third place in the Sprint qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix of Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, finished only seventh after feeling a change in the car’s behavior compared to FP1.
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Leclerc was just a few hundredths away from pole and positively evaluated the start of the weekend so far: “I am satisfied with my lap, it was a good effort from the team and we are in the fight for the start of tomorrow’s Sprint race,” he said.
The Monegasque driver also highlighted that he felt comfortable with the car from the first session and considered it important to resume activities after the break with this level of performance. At the same time, Leclerc acknowledged that the challenging conditions in FP1 limited understanding of the teams’ race pace, leaving that assessment for the upcoming weekend activities.
Hamilton had a more inconsistent Friday. After feeling good in FP1 and approving the adjustments made throughout the day, the Briton reported a change in the Ferrari’s behavior during the Sprint qualifying: “The car felt different during the Sprint qualifying, which made the session more challenging,” he said.
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur highlighted Leclerc’s performance and pointed out the main problem faced by Hamilton: “Charles had a good performance, qualifying just a few hundredths behind pole. It was a very good lap, in which he managed to put everything together,” he added. About Hamilton, Vasseur said it will be necessary to work on the car’s balance to improve performance in the next sessions.
Hamilton stated that the team will carefully analyze the data overnight to understand the change in behavior and seek improvement before the Sprint race. Leclerc, in P3, starts in a competitive position, while Ferrari will try to recover performance with Hamilton before the qualifying session for Sunday’s GP.
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