Charles Leclerc: “We have work to do and I am confident that we can take another step forward”

Despite topping today’s second practice session, Scuderia Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc, has stated that the team still has work to do if they are to contend for the race victory this weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Monegasque driver posted the sixth fastest time in first practice, just under seventh tenths of a second behind the fastest time set by George Russell.

However, come the second session around Zandvoort and Ferrari were starting to assert some dominance against the rest of the field. Leclerc topped the session by the narrowest of margins over his teammate, with a gap of just four-one-thousandths of a second separating the two.

Entering this weekend with eight races remaining in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Leclerc is looking to reduce the sizeable gap between himself and Max Verstappen and after a strong first day, the advantage appears to be with Ferrari and Leclerc.

Speaking after today’s action out on track, Leclerc demanded that his team take the necessary steps forward over night to protect their advantage over Oracle Red Bull Racing in the early stages of the weekend.

“Compared to the first session, in the second we gained a bit of performance but in terms of balance we are not yet where I would like. We have work to do and I am confident that we can take another step forward for tomorrow.

“Today we were all very close except Max and Checo but I think they had a day that was not without problems. It will be an interesting qualification. “

Carlos Sainz: “Overall this was a good Friday in Zandvoort”

Credit: Scuderia Ferrari

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Ferrari garage, Carlos Sainz Jr. was left satisfied with a strong day of running which saw the Spaniard finish both practice sessions inside the top three.

After finishing Free Practice One third fastest, Sainz would go onto set the second fastest time of Free Practice Two, missing out on the fastest time by the smallest of margins to his teammate, Charles Leclerc.

Sainz took great encouragement from the times that the F1-75 was able to set on both the long runs and the qualifying simulations, something the Ferrari team have struggled to find the middle ground with throughout the season.

Like his teammate, Sainz placed high importance on the team being able to identify the necessary step of improvement ahead of qualifying tomorrow, where Sainz is also anticipating the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team to provide close competition for pole position.

“Overall this was a good Friday in Zandvoort and I had a lot of fun running on this track which is so demanding for drivers and cars.

“From a performance point of view, the sessions went according to plan without a hitch both when we were running in preparation for qualifying and in view of the race.

“Tomorrow will be a very close fight with our rivals so every area of improvement that we will identify in tonight’s analysis will be extremely useful when we go on the hunt for pole position. “