Charles Leclerc highlights major Ferrari weakness: “Crazy how much we're losing”

Charles Leclerc admitted Ferrari’s weaknesses were exposed in Dutch Grand Prix qualifying, conceding it’s “crazy” how much they’re losing in two particular corners.

Leclerc was forced to settle for sixth on the grid for Sunday’s race at Zandvoort.

The Monegasque has been struggling for pace all weekend and was on the back foot heading into qualifying.

While Ferrari’s pace picked up as the session progressed, Leclerc could only qualify sixth, nearly 0.7s off pole-sitter Oscar Piastri.

Speaking after the session, Leclerc revealed that Ferrari are losing most of their time at Turn 9 and 10.

“I think it is just the characteristics of this track that are highlighting our weaknesses, like the long corners, 9 and 10, for example,” Leclerc explained.

“It’s crazy how much we are losing in these two corners, and unfortunately, there’s not much that we can do.”

Leclerc “didn’t do a good job” in qualifying

Heading into qualifying, Lewis Hamilton appeared to be the more competitive Ferrari at Zandvoort.

Charles Leclerc labelled Friday as his “worst” of the season so far.

In the end, Leclerc pipped teammate Hamilton sixth, despite putting together a scrappy lap.

“It’s been a very difficult one, it’s the kind of weekend where I never really had the references going into quali,” he added.

“I didn’t really know still what to expect from the car, it was so inconsistent from FP1 to qualifying but it was difficult to take good references and that definitely didn’t help me but on the other hand it’s not an excuse.

“I didn’t do a good job in qualifying, especially in q3 I didn’t put my lap together. I think P4 realistically was the best we could do with our car but it is what it is.”

While Leclerc was disappointed with his overall qualifying performance, it was still probably his “strongest session of the weekend”, admitting the result “could have been worse”.

“Unfortunately it could have been worse, which P6 normally should be the worst it could get but it could have been worse, actually P6 is probably our strongest session of the weekend,” Leclerc explained.

“We are maximising what we are having but I still believe I could have done a better job.”