Podium before home race

Ferrari’s Sunday suit came as a complete surprise

Charles Leclerc (right) left Oscar Piastri behind him and raced to third place.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

On Friday and Saturday it was bad, on Sunday it was good. After the botched practice sessions, where Carlos Sainz retired with gearbox damage, and the poor qualifying, Ferrari dressed up for the race. 

The "Krone" reports from Zandvoort

Charles Leclerc himself was surprised to find himself on the podium in third place: "We were actually aiming for sixth place," admitted the Monegasque, who started sixth. "I didn't expect to keep third place until the end, but my team did a good job." And it was surprising that Oscar Piastri in the McLaren first became big in Leclerc's rear-view mirror, but then dropped back.

The Ferrari driver himself also still finds some things incomprehensible: "Once we understand what's happening with the car, I'm confident about the future." For now, that means Monza, and as early as next Sunday: "This podium was very important before the home race."

It remains to be seen whether Ferrari customer Haas will make it to Monza: although team owner Gene Haas has assured that the outstanding payments to former sponsor Uralkali have been made, there has been no confirmation from the Russians. So the cars of Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen remain impounded in Zandvoort for the time being. The clock is ticking.