For Charles Leclerc, the weekend in Zandvoort is one he’d rather forget. The driver was on track for a top ten finish, but saw valuable World Championship points for Ferrari evaporate due to a collision with Andrea Kimi Antonelli. After the race, Leclerc is downcast, arriving at only one conclusion: ‘This weekend was hell.’
Ferrari started the Dutch GP full of optimism. The Italian team, along with McLaren, was the only racing stable with two starting spots in the top ten. Lewis Hamilton hoped that the Scuderia could take advantage of this by splitting the strategies for the two drivers. In the end, Ferrari didn’t get the chance to seriously pressure the McLarens.
Lewis Hamilton ended up in the barriers in lap 23, while Charles Leclerc – due to the collision with Andrea Kimi Antonelli – also couldn’t finish his race. “Kimi clearly tried to do something that wasn’t really realistic,” the Monegasque reflects after the GP. “Overtaking on the inside in that corner (Hugenholtz corner, ed.) is always possible, but with the momentum coming out, you never keep that spot. I haven’t seen the replay yet, but I get the impression he was way off the track. He hit me and that was the end of my race.”
‘This weekend was hell’
Therefore, Leclerc can only draw one conclusion about his Dutch GP weekend. “It was hell,” the Ferrari driver states clearly. “From the first free practice to the race. Unfortunately, things went a lot better in the race itself. It’s a difficult circuit, so you had to be very aggressive. I did that with George (Russell, ed.) at the start, and then again because we were unlucky with the first safety car. But it was to no avail.”
