Friday at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix was a challenging day for the two Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Though the Italian team currently holds second place in the Constructors’ Championship rankings, the fight is still alive, with Mercedes trying to catch up to the Prancing Horse.
This fierce competition between the two Formula 1 giants leaves no room for poor performance. Nevertheless, the Ferraris have recorded a very difficult two practice sessions at Zandvoort on Friday.
A very difficult day at Zandvoort
The McLarens were at the top once again in Friday’s two practice sessions. But the surprise came from Aston Martin drivers, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso. But the promising performance was nowhere to be found for the Ferraris on Friday.
Leclerc finished the first session right ahead of his teammate Hamilton in 14th place, +1.673 seconds behind the leader Lando Norris. In FP2, he was in 8th place with +0.944 seconds away from the first place. The Monegasque driver was frustrated with the results, describing the Dutch Friday as the worst one of the season.
However, Leclerc is far from giving up for the weekend, which is just about the start.
“I will sum it up as a very, very, very difficult Friday. Probably the worst Friday of the season, which is right after the holidays. So it’s a little bit of a wake-up call.
“But it’s okay. I mean, we’ve had some difficult Fridays now. It’s up to us to turn the situation around.
“For sure, it’s not been an easy day. FP1 was extremely difficult, and FP2 was slightly better but still very far off where we want to be.
“I don’t expect to fully return the situation because I think McLaren is in a league of its own. Aston Martin was a surprise for us.
“We’ll try and improve the cars. There’s plenty to be done anyway.”
The biggest limitation for Ferrari for the weekend
In a post FP2 interview, Leclerc mentioned that his SF-25 was struggling specifically at two corners, losing 90% of the lap time at Turns 9 and 10. If not fixed, this might be vital for both Ferrari drivers’ race pace over the weekend, where they need all the points they can earn.
While the team hasn’t concluded why they are facing this problem, particularly at these two corners, the Monegasque driver shared that they have set their target on fixing this problem as soon as possible.
“We are losing basically 90% of the time we lose in two corners, and there’s just something that our car cannot do at the moment. We are trying to find out why it’s so concentrated in two corners. Normally, that’s never the case.
“So we’ll work on trying to find a solution for these two corners.”
Sight of progress on the horizon
Despite his teammate describing the free practice day as “very, very, very difficult,” the seven-time world champion was more optimistic about how his Friday went.
While finishing in 15th place with +1.682 seconds away from the leader in FP1, Hamilton was sixth in FP2 with + 0.848 seconds. Knowing they still have a long way to go, the Briton emphasized his progress throughout the day, which gives him motivation to work overnight on the car to be better prepared for the weekend.
“It’s not been the worst of days, I think we were making progress. We’re obviously quite far off in P1, a lot further than normal.
“The first lap felt pretty decent getting back, but then a bit of a challenge from then.
“We made some progress over lunch. So I think we progressed, but still quite a chunk off. So we’ve got some work to do overnight.”
A dramatic spin in the free practice
A couple of spins from different drivers were recorded during both free practice sessions on Friday, and Hamilton was one of them.
In the first free practice round, the seven-time world champion made a mistake on the exit of Turn 2 and executed a 360-degree spin. Then, in the second free practice session, his second spin of the day occurred. Carrying excessive speed into the corner induced the Briton to complete a 360-degree spin on fresh soft tyres.
Hamilton successfully managed not to crash his Ferrari into the barriers on both spins. The British Ferrari driver was not entirely negative about these two occasions, considering he was testing the limits of his SF-25 and was able to go faster right after the incidents.
“I think the first one was just pushing too much, and ultimately, ride quality is not what we wanted. The car is quite unpredictable.
“The second one, I touched the grass and had a snap. That was, you know, pushing, which is positive, I guess. Hopefully no more.”
Setting realistic goals
Over the first half of the 2025 Formula 1 season, Ferrari recorded a season full of ups and downs. The most recent one was Leclerc’s performance in Budapest, the Hungarian Grand Prix. While the Monegasque driver surprisingly got the pole position on Saturday, he came in fourth place on Sunday at Hungaroring.
Acknowledging the strange nature of their season so far, Leclerc showed his unwillingness to set unrealistic goals for the Dutch weekend. Especially after passing a very challenging FP1 and FP2 on Friday, he is focusing on giving his best to turn the situation around over the weekend.
“It’s a very strange season. I’ve never said that I will be on pole in Budapest.
“I don’t want to really fix myself targets today. Because after what was a very difficult weekend, it’s not very exciting targets.
“But I’m looking forward to try and turn the situation around and try to make a miracle tomorrow.
“It’s not going to be an easy weekend for us.”
Where to find the Ferraris over the weekend
One thing both Ferrari drivers constantly underlined during their interviews was how they will try and bring their best on the track at Zandvoort. They are both aware of the fact that there are crucial parts the team needs to fix in SF-25 to pass a poor performance-free Dutch Grand Prix.
According to Hamilton, Ferrari should work on the car’s setup, which they had done in the previous weekend, resulting in a way better performance on the SF-25. While the Briton can not predict where he will end up on the track in qualifying and grand prix at the moment, he is sure to give his best for his team.
“Well, I think before my spin, I was around a tenth up, and then I’ve got another tenth and a half in the last corner. So, I’ve got to make some improvements there, I think.
“We’ve got some work to do with the setup. So I think we are where we are pace-wise for some reason.
“I don’t really know whether we’re gonna find or how we’re gonna find 8 tenths. I really don’t know. But we’ll try our best, I’m sure.”
