Charles Leclerc complains of 'MASSIVE' difficulties with Ferrari car at Dutch Grand Prix

Dutch Grand Prix

Leclerc complains of 'MASSIVE' difficulties with Ferrari car at Dutch Grand Prix

Leclerc has suggested that car issues are negatively affecting his performance at Zandvoort

Lauren Sneath

Sunday 27 August 2023 13:57

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Charles Leclerc has said that the weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix has been ‘extremely difficult’ after the Ferrari driver struggled in qualifying.

Leclerc may have been hoping for a strong performance after ending the first half of the 2023 season with a podium place in Belgium, but that dream may be short-lived as he could not manage better than P9 on the Zandvoort starting grid.

The Monegasque driver, previously touted by many as a strong challenger to defending champion Max Verstappen, has had a rocky season so far and this weekend looks set to continue the pattern.

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Leclerc has put his uneven performance down to issues with car balance, and said that there has been ‘something strange all weekend’ with the front of his car.

Charles Leclerc has struggled to mount a challenge to Max Verstappen this season

Speaking after Q3 on Saturday, he told Sky Sports F1: “First of all, the whole weekend has been extremely difficult with our car balance.

“We are going through massive understeer corner, to massive oversteer corners and it’s very difficult to anticipate as a driver also in which way it is going to go.

“That is tricky. Having said that, in that particular corner, there was just something strange all weekend with the front.”

Leclerc: We’ve been struggling massively

Leclerc explained that while he tried his best to ‘push a bit more’ in qualifying sessions, the team has been ‘struggling massively’.

He added that the grip of the car is difficult for him to predict, with erratic oversteer or understeer getting in the way of making an impression against other drivers on the track.

Leclerc said: “I tried to push a bit more in qualifying as you would do in Q3, and it didn’t work out. It’s a shame, but we’ve been struggling massively all weekend.

“We are just struggling to find the grip at the moment. It’s very difficult to anticipate as drivers, the car you will get into the corner.

“Whether it’s going to massively oversteer or massively understeer. It’s just very difficult. As you said, it’s my job to also make the best job possible even when it’s difficult.

“Today was a particularly tricky day, but it’s a shame it ended that way anyway.”