Charles Leclerc conquers an unexpected podium in Dutch GP. All predictions were shattered, even those put forward by Ferrari itself, which in today's race was aiming to get a few points between seventh and fifth position. Despite a complicated weekend, Leclerc thus managed to bring out all the potential made available by his SF-24, managing to keep Oscar Piastri behind him at the end.
Excellent Dutch GP for Leclerc: second podium in two races
Both on Friday and Saturday, Charles Leclerc presented himself to the microphones with words of resignation. The car, on which updates will be brought to Monza, did not prove to be up to par with its rivals. Furthermore, drivers and teams found it difficult to interpret the track and weather to reach an efficient set-up. Even in qualifying the situation seemed complicated, with Sainz eliminated in Q2. During the race the situation was reversed. Leclerc found a perfect start, managing to overtake Perez and threaten Piastri with Russell. But the winning move came on the twenty-fifth lap, when the Prancing Horse wall called the Monegasque back to the pits, completing an important undercut on two drivers.
Despite a difference of ten laps on the tyres, Leclerc was formidable in keeping Piastri's McLaren behind him, with better performance and fresher tyres. The two drivers chased each other for almost half the race, with the Australian from McLaren finding himself shadowing Leclerc for a long time. A close battle, but one that cost Piastri dearly on a circuit like this, as he was unable to find an opening to overtake the Ferrari and obtain third place. For Leclerc and the Maranello team this is an important second consecutive podium after the one in Belgium. A significant result of resilience, obtained in a complicated period of the season which still seems not to be over.
Leclerc satisfied: "excellent result after a difficult weekend"
Charles Leclerc said it yesterday, a sporting miracle would have been needed for a podium. But miracles are something inexplicable and understood a bit by chance. Instead, Charles and Ferrari's race was perfect. Thus arrived the 37th podium for the Monegasque driver, thus equaling Riccardo patrese. A happy Leclerc, even if he would like to be able to aim for something more important than a third place. “I'm very surprised, I'm not always happy with a third place, but with today's race we can be totally happy with the work done. After a difficult weekend for the team, why we struggled from Friday until the race. Then in the race we found a little more pace and executed a perfect strategy. We managed to get ahead of our opponents and then keep them behind. I'm very happy to have started the second part of the season like this ".
The strategy was fundamental, which forced Leclerc to run a large part of the race on the same tyres, but allowed him to overtake Piastri and Russell, then putting him in a clean air position which allowed him to manage the tires and to keep McLaren behind, also taking advantage of the conformity of the circuit which does not allow many opportunities for overtaking. However, this would not have happened without the lightning start made by Leclerc, who overtook Sergio Perez's Red Bull already at the Tarzan. “I knew that leaving would be a great opportunity, but I never thought we would even have the pace to keep Perez behind, but I knew that the first lap would be important to get positions. This is why I attacked and overtook me, but I didn't expect to get all the way to the podium".
