Leclerc: Even clearer where Ferrari are lacking after set-up experiments

Ferrari dedicated much of Friday’s practice running at Zandvoort to trialing new set-ups in a bid to get on top of the weaknesses of their 2023 challenger. 

Leclerc endured a challenging weekend in the Netherlands and suffered a heavy crash in qualifying, before floor damage curtailed his Sunday and forced him into retirement. 

Asked what lessons Ferrari took away from Zandvoort, Leclerc replied: “Many. Not really in the race as my front wing went under the floor and basically broke everything, so I had very little grip. 

“For the rest of the weekend we tried quite a few things, especially in FP1, trying to put the car in very different places in terms of set-up to see how it will react and I think we have some confirmation of what we expected. 

“We’ve got a lot of work to do now to find solutions to our problems and the weakness of the car. It’s even clearer to before where we are lacking at the moment.” 

After his qualifying crash, Leclerc said he has “zero idea” how his Ferrari car will behave through the corners. The Monegasque reiterated that unpredictability remains the SF-23’s biggest weakness. 

“Yes the unpredictability, especially on tracks where we have a bit more downforce, it becomes really tricky to drive,” he explained.  

"We’ve got big changes of balance through the same corner and as a driver, it’s very difficult to go into a corner and not really know what balance you are going to get. 

“So that’s where we need to work on at the moment.” 

Leclerc is hoping for a more competitive weekend at Ferrari’s home race at Monza this weekend. 

“Let’s say it’s not exactly like Spa but the track characteristics are closer to the ones of Spa than Zandvoort and Budapest,” he said. 

“So we should be a bit more competitive here. Whether it will be enough or not to fight for the podium, I don't know.

“But I really hope so. We'll do everything for it, for sure.”