Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari an excellent start to the second half of the season with a second place in the sprint race at Zandvoort. The Monegasque was the only driver at the front to choose the soft tire and saw that bold strategy rewarded with a podium finish. “If you are the only one doing something different, it can either work out very well or very badly.”
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“In the end, it was a good choice and it means we did our homework well in the first free practice,” said the Ferrari driver. Leclerc mostly followed Lando Norris but was able to strike in the eighteenth lap and moved up to P2. “I saw that Lando didn’t have much battery on the straight, so I knew I had to maximize that. By the way, I didn’t expect to move up a place on the soft tire at the end of the race.”
Read more Sprint race result GP Netherlands 2026
The second place also gives Ferrari confidence. Leclerc is satisfied with the balance of his car and sees perspective for the rest of the weekend. “The car has felt good since FP1, so that gives hope for the start of the second half of the season.”
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Read everything here about the Dutch GP in Zandvoort
