Why McLaren thinks Ferrari is quickest in Zandvoort, but may well be stuck

Charles Leclerc's impressive soft-tyre pace in the Dutch Grand Prix sprint race has given its rivals food for thought

Ferrari's impressive sprint race at Zandvoort has put its Formula 1 rivals on high alert, but a disappointing qualifying performance may leave the Scuderia unable to use its advantage in the grand prix.

Ferrari looked strong in Saturday's sprint, especially in the hands of Charles Leclerc who was much happier with his set-up direction than team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

As the only frontrunner to complete the race on soft tyres instead of more durable medium rubber, Leclerc bided his time until he found a way past Norris for second place behind winner George Russell.

McLaren chief Andrea Stella said his team found Leclerc's tyre choice "quite ambitious", but the team would have obviously had good reasons to believe it would pay off. And it did, as Leclerc picked off Norris when the latter was struggling with rear tyre degradation.

Ferrari's intriguing soft-tyre run is certainly food for thought for its rivals ahead of the full-distance grand prix, but according to Stella it could also have been a factor of how quick the SF-26 is in race trim compared to its less robust qualifying performance.

"I think the lap times of Ferrari in continuous laps that they showed during practice one, they were the best," Stella observed. "And probably in the race, Leclerc was still the best in terms of pace. Now, I'm not sure whether this is associated with the soft tyres or simply because they have the fastest car when it comes to race pace.

"So, I think all teams will take a look at Leclerc's run and will try to think: 'Was it because of their car or is it because we need to consider something for the strategy?'"

Andrea Stella says Ferrari is "the best in terms of pace" in the race

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Ferrari would generally be pretty pleased to be faster in race trim than over a single lap, but given how difficult overtaking is on the tight and twisty Zandvoort loop, that doesn't apply as much to this weekend.

"We're trying to make the car as fast as possible, but for the characteristics we have it works a little bit better in the race than in qualifying," Leclerc said as he qualified sixth, 0.395s off pole and 0.064s behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton. "I prefer that way than the other way, but on a track like this, it doesn't help.

With the Dutch Grand Prix expected to be a fairly straightforward one-stop race, though, it remains to be seen if Ferrari can actually leverage that race pace advantage or if it will be simply stuck in traffic. Its main option appears a start on soft, of which both drivers have saved a brand-new set unlike their direct rivals, to make up ground at the start and then pit early to lure its rivals into a long second stint on the preferred hard tyres, or gain track position.

Team principal Fred Vasseur certainly alluded to that scenario after qualifying. "We save one set of new [soft] tyres for tomorrow and we are the only one on the first three rows," he mentioned Ferrari's strategic flexibility in conversation with Sky. "This is positive and let's see what we can do. The race pace was good this morning. It means that we can push and try to do better tomorrow. You see that we were able to overtake..."