Leclerc seeks 'miracle' to recover from 'worst Friday of the season' in Zandvoort

Charles Leclerc conceded the opening day of the Dutch Grand Prix weekend was “probably the worst Friday of the season” after ending up almost a second shy of the pace.

After taking a surprise pole position last time out in Hungary, Leclerc struggled for pace at Zandvoort, setting the eighth fastest time in Free Practice 2 for Ferrari as he trailed Lando Norris by 0.944s.

“I would sum it up as a very, very, very difficult Friday – probably the worst Friday of the season, which is right after the holidays, so it’s a bit of a wake-up call,” said Leclerc.

“We’ve had some difficult Fridays and now it’s up to us to turn the situation around.

“But for sure, it’s not been an easy day. FP1 was extremely difficult. FP2 was slightly better but still very far off where we want to be. I don’t expect to fully return the situation, because I think McLaren is in a league of its own with Aston Martin, in what was a surprise for us.

“We’ll try to improve the car, because there is plenty to be done.”

Reflecting that Ferrari is “losing basically 90% of the time in two corners”, Leclerc refused to set any targets for what is possible this weekend.

“I don’t know. It’s a very strange season,” he added. “I would never have said that I would be on pole in Budapest, so I don’t really want to fix myself targets today, because after what was a very difficult weekend, it’s not very exciting targets.

“I’m looking forward to trying to turn the situation around and trying to make a miracle tomorrow, but it’s not going to be an easy weekend.”

On the other side of the garage, Lewis Hamilton offered a more positive assessment of the day, after finishing three places and 0.098s ahead of his team mate.

“It’s not been the worst of days,” said the seven-time World Champion. “I think we were making progress. We were obviously quite far off in FP1, a lot further than normal. The first lap felt pretty decent, getting back, and it was a bit of a challenge from then. We made some progress over lunch, so we progressed but were still quite a chunk off. We’ve got some work to do overnight.”

A pair of spins punctuated Hamilton’s day, but he was determined to take the positives even from these difficult moments.

“I think the first one was just pushing too much,” he said. “I think we ultimately said the ride quality was not where we would want it, because the car was quite unpredictable. The second one, I touched the grass and had a snap, and that was that. I was pushing, which is positive, I guess. Hopefully, no more.”