Charles Leclerc disappointed by Ferrari’s performance

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc expressed his disappointment after Friday's second practice session, admitting that the SF-24 has not yet fully recovered from its mid-season performance issues and predicting that the car would lack the pace needed to challenge for a win on Sunday.

The Maranello-based team introduced updates for the Dutch GP to restore performance lost after mid-season upgrades. Both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz struggled with a noticeable loss of pace before the summer break, exacerbated by ongoing issues with their cars' impact.

After finishing ninth in FP2, the Monegasque driver acknowledged noticeable improvements to the car but admitted they are not enough to keep up with Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes at the front. Speaking to the media at Zandvoort on Friday, Leclerc said:

“It was tough, as expected.

“Unfortunately, our pace is not quite as good as that of the guys in front.

“I think it’s better than it looks on the timesheets at the end of the day, but it’s definitely not quite enough for the win.

“There is certainly a lot of work ahead of us, that's what we're doing. I hope it will pay off soon.”

Leclerc predicts a “difficult weekend” for Ferrari unless the forecast severe weather offers the team the opportunity to make the most of Saturday, which could potentially put them in a good position for Sunday's race. He added:

“I really hope so and I will try to do something special in qualifying. But at the moment we are talking about gaps that are a bit too big to achieve anything special.”

“If we can get within two or three tenths, maybe we can still do something. If not, I predict a difficult weekend for us.”

As the countdown begins to the final ten races before Sainz moves to Williams, paving the way for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, Leclerc admitted that while their rivalry on the track has sometimes caused tension, their relationship off the track has remained friendly.

During an appearance on the Beyond The Grid podcast, he revealed that he would miss the Spaniard next season as they had gotten on so well. He admitted:

“I will miss Carlos as a person. We get along very well. Unfortunately, everything in this world is over-analyzed and over-criticized, but we always had a really good relationship.”

“There were moments when I hated him with the helmet on his head and he hated me because we didn't see things the same way. Then everything cleared up when we talked to each other.”

He added:

“We shared many interests and moments that I will remember forever.”