Leclerc Dutch GP podium boosts Ferrari morale

Leclerc was sixth on the grid Sunday but overtook Red Bull's Sergio Perez at the start before also getting ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and the on-form McLaren of Oscar Piastri. Leclerc kept Piastri behind him to hold on for third, while his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. surged from 10th on the grid to finish fifth.

Not bad for a team which Leclerc said was targeting sixth place in a "damage limitation" exercise before planned car upgrades at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza next week. It's a well-timed morale boost for a team which started 2024 fighting for wins but had dropped out of contention.

"Very, very surprised. I´m not very often happy with a P3 but I think with today´s race we can be extremely happy with the job we´ve done on a difficult weekend for the team," Leclerc said.

"We´d been struggling from Friday until the race. In the race we found some more pace, executed a perfect strategy ... So a really strong race for the team and really happy to start the second half (of the season) like this."

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur commented on the race, in Ferrari's race report, he said: "We were not very optimistic coming to Zandvoort, but today it went very well for both sides of the garage.

"We had good starts, good strategy, good pit stops, with both drivers managing their tyres very well. Charles was able to keep Piastri behind him and deserved this podium.

"We have to be positive and appreciate this, even if we have to keep in mind that [Lando] Norris was a long way ahead and really, we need to focus on getting wins, not finishing P3. Looking at the race, already on Friday, we felt we were in better shape on used tyres than with new ones.

"So, overall it has been a good weekend and we must build on this," the Frenchman pointed out. "There are still nine races to go, some of them will suit us better than others and we must see what we can do with the new package that is coming soon, but today has certainly been a confidence boost for the team."

Ferrari started the season as Red Bull's closest challenger - even if it wasn't especially close - but has lost ground to McLaren and Mercedes over the last three months.

In the six races since Leclerc took Ferrari's second win of the season at Monaco in May, Ferrari has been on the podium a total of three times. Meanwhile, the resurgent McLaren and Mercedes have been winning races and putting Red Bull under pressure.

Wins for Lewis Hamilton at the British and Belgian races called into question whether the seven-time champion was really making the right decision by switching from Mercedes to Ferrari for next season. Hamilton will partner Leclerc at Ferrari as Sainz moves to Williams.

(The Associated Press, Additional reporting by GrandPrix247)