DHL Fastest Lap fails to save Leclerc after poor Zandvoort strategy calls

Ferrari had a brand new floor for Zandvoort as they prepared to attack Mercedes, but the update failed to achieve the desired effect after a poor performance in qualifying by the Scuderia.

On the notoriously difficult-to-overtake Zandvoort circuit, Charles Leclerc gained two places in the race with a blistering start from sixth but lost one of them again on the restart after the red flag. Ferrari's man was then forced to rely on strategy to get past George Russell and McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri. The overcut worked for the latter but then things got complicated.

Lewis Hamilton found himself held up by Leclerc and urged Ferrari to impose team orders. After several heated radio exchanges, Leclerc was instead called into the pits - far too early for his race. After a third pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car, he tried again to close the gap to the leaders on new soft tires, setting the DHL Fastest Lap on lap 60 with a time of 1:14.230 minutes.

After the race, Leclerc was not at all happy as he called his team's actions into question, saying: "The second pit stop is something I want to look at. Yes, Lewis was arriving, but it was important for me to create a tire delta to Mercedes. We didn't do that." Ultimately though, he accepted that his performance in qualifying was the main reason for the poor result.