It’s safe to say that no one was really expecting Ferrari to be on the podium in Zandvoort, especially as their FP2 race pace simulations had fallen flat and they could only get as high as 6th on the grid with Leclerc. Based on this, it’s likely that they went into the race expecting to be fighting for points but that that would be all.

So where did this change?

Charles’ race came alive after he gained a place at the start, and then was able to use his better than expected race pace to hang onto the battle between Russell and Piastri. In this first stint, George played a big role in allowing Charles to hang onto Oscar, as Oscar wasn’t able to pass George despite having the faster pace.

At this point, the undercut strategy was open to all three of these drivers but it was Ferrari who decided to take the risk and they pitted Leclerc on lap 25. We can see the effect this had on Leclerc’s pace here on the race pace graph, as he becomes the fastest of the three and gains position on track over both George and Oscar.

McLaren felt that responding to this undercut was too risky, and they left Oscar out for another eight laps before he pitted on lap 33.

At this point though, despite having much faster pace on his new tyres that allows him to catch up to Charles’ pace very quickly, Oscar gets stuck in Charles’ dirty air. 

Even with his superior pace, this meant he just couldn’t get by and Charles hung onto the final podium place until the end.

Ferrari not only found pace in Zandvoort but used this to execute a perfect strategy, and they’ll be wanting to keep this momentum going for their home race in Monza next…