After a difficult Formula 1 qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, Charles Leclerc admitted the team need to work on their one-lap pace.
The weekend started strong for the Maranello team, with Leclerc taking one of the few overtakes in the Sprint Race and claiming second place.
However, with the big points on Sunday, the Monegasque focus was naturally on qualifying. Despite being able to put his SF-25 third for the Sprint Race, the main race qualifying was not as straightforward.
The McLarens seemed to have a better handle of the car, with the Mercedes equally regaining the pace that’s been consistent throughout the season.
Leclerc put together strong laps with no glaring issues with the car. However, despite his best efforts, he only managed to go fast enough for sixth on the grid.
A strong race car than quali car
Speaking to the media, including Motorsport Week, after the session, he explained how the results weren’t entirely surprising as the SF-25 has favoured race pace over one-lap speed.
“It’s definitely a tendency where we seem to be faster in the race than we are in qualifying, and qualifying most of the time is a bit more of a struggle.
“Yesterday was a bit of an exception, and we were strong in qualifying, but otherwise we always seem to be a bit on the back foot.”
It’s common for a car to have a preference for one or the other. In the past, Ferrari has faced the opposite struggle. Having a car with the ability to consistently be on pole but lacking the race pace to hold on to the position.
Leclerc said that the idea would obviously be to have a car which is strong in both aspects, but it’s not as easy as that. The Monegasque also recognised that he’d prefer the performance leaning in favour of race pace.
“We’ve got to work on that, but as I was saying this morning in the press conference, it’s not black and white, and it’s not as easy as saying, OK, I’ll take a little bit from the race and put it in qualifying or vice versa.”
“We’re trying to make the car as fast as possible, but for the characteristics we have, it works a little bit better in the race than in qualifying.
“I prefer that way to the other way, but on a track like this, it doesn’t help.”
The difficulty of overtaking
The Sprint Race showed how Zandvoort’s narrow layout makes overtaking far more difficult. Naturally, with that, qualifying becomes far more important.
Potential trouble overtaking isn’t the only worry for Sunday. The weekend has had sporadic rain since Thursday, and it’s still forecast to pour down across the race.
Leclerc told the media how the nature of the rain this weekend makes the race ‘tricky’.
“It’s going to be tricky, especially because, as we’ve seen in the last few days, it’s not that it’s raining for two hours and then it’s raining for ten minutes, then sun, then ten minutes, so it might make an interesting race.”
When asked if that’s something he’d like or if he’d rather a dry race, he was quick to joke: “Well, starting P6, I would, yes.”
READ MORE: George Russell ‘glad’ to avoid changeable Zandvoort weather en route to Sprint triumph
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