Ferrari’s Zandvoort qualifying deficit exposed by telemetry data

ZANDVOORT – On a track that in theory masks its car’s weaknesses, Ferrari cannot be satisfied with its results so far at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Qualifying fifth and sixth, telemetry data reveals what prevented Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from securing better starting positions and putting themselves in the fight for victory.

Did Ferrari miss a great chance in Zandvoort?

As in Hungary, the track layout on paper gives the Maranello team a real chance. The lack of long straights eliminates the deficit Ferrari suffers in terms of power unit output, but as we will see from the data, evidently not enough.

Considering Leclerc’s fantastic pace during the Sprint race, the impression remains that the team missed a major opportunity to fight for the win.

In fact, looking at Leclerc’s pace, he was not only faster than Russell (marginal, but faster nonetheless), he also enjoyed better tyre degradation – and on the soft tyres at that, while everyone else was on mediums. Had he attacked Norris a few laps earlier, Leclerc may well have had a shot at fighting for the Sprint victory.

The rear-axle grip issues they previously struggled with were absent here (likely influenced by ambient temperature), which minimised the power unit deficit on corner exits, while the front end simultaneously remained stable through the high-speed section.

However, at Zandvoort, race pace isn’t the only thing you need if you want any chance of victory. The driver starting on pole position has won the main race here every single time since 2021. In other words, you must secure a strong starting position, otherwise you stand almost no chance.

Hamilton finished qualifying slightly over three-tenths off pole, while Leclerc was four-tenths off, putting them in P5 and P6. So where did such a large gap come from, especially after such a close Sprint Qualifying?

The deficit to McLaren and Mercedes starts to widen right after Turn 3. From the graph below, we can see Ferrari’s speed deficit through Turn 6, and especially along the short straight between Turn 7 and Turn 8.

At that point, Hamilton was nearly half a second slower than Norris, who was flying through the middle sector.

Where Ferrari excelled during qualifying was in the low-speed corners, particularly Turn 11 and Turn 12, where both drivers chipped away at the substantial gap built up in Sector 2.

Moreover, the lack of power unit performance is noticeable at the very end of the lap – notice the speeds McLaren and Mercedes achieve across the line and how significant Ferrari’s deficit is there.

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To make matters worse, Leclerc stated after qualifying that he suffered power unit issues during Q3, likely a consequence of setup changes made after Q2. Specifically, the power unit wasn’t delivering enough power on certain sections of the track, while on others it delivered more than Leclerc expected – the beauty of the 2026 regulations.

And this is a big reason why he ultimately lost position to his teammate. Hamilton made up around 0.25 seconds on Charles in the section between Turn 9 and Turn 12 alone, while the telemetry shows a notable difference in apex speeds through Turn 10 and Turn 12.

All of this highlights a strange but true pattern Ferrari displays during Sprint weekends this season.

They always look strong during Friday’s sole practice session, likely down to solid preparation back at the factory, however, when it comes to developing pace from session to session, Ferrari falls behind the other top teams, leading to poor qualifying results.

Consequently, Ferrari will start the main race from the third row, so we cannot expect too much from them. Their only remaining hope of fighting for a podium lies in vastly different race strategy or potential rain, which is always lurking in the Netherlands.

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