Sainz: We seem to be struggling for pace and balance

Sainz missed FP1 as he handed his car over to Ferrari junior driver Robert Shwartzman, but didn't enjoy a smooth FP2, having a couple of off-road excursions and finishing 16th fastest. Teammate Charles Leclerc was 11th fastest.

"Overall it was quite a tricky Friday for the team and missing FP1 is obviously never ideal," Sainz said in Ferrari's Friday report.

"I got up to speed quickly in FP2 but it’s true that this weekend we seem to be struggling for pace and balance overall. This circuit at the moment is not suiting us very well but we’ll work to make a good step forward for tomorrow," he added.

Leclerc who was 16th in FP1, echoed his teammate's sentiments following a challenging opening day of running at Zandvoort; he said: "It was a difficult day for us overall.

"The field seems to be very tight here and there is still quite a lot of pace to be gained, especially on the qualifying runs. We will work hard on that overnight.

"The weather forecast for tomorrow predicts rain, so that’s something we will have to adapt to," Leclerc concluded.

Shwartzman, who took part in FP1 in Sainz's car, finished that session 19th fastest, and reflected on his time in the SF-23, he said: "Our focus for FP1 was to test some aero balance solutions.

"I'm happy with how I managed to work with the car, because everyone expected it to be challenging. I knew from the beginning that it wasn't a performance run and the team briefed me about the programme and what to expect in advance. I did most of the laps in race mode to see how the car performs lap by lap. We also completed a practice start, which was quite good," he explained.

"It has been a really good experience and the track is super challenging," he went on. "I have never driven here with the current configuration and the banking. It was also my first experience in the SF-23. I found it interesting and fun. It was a tough session, but we completed it well and collected some data.

"The car felt quite similar to the way it does in the simulator. It is important for us to understand that relationship, in order to improve the current car and work on next year's one.

"I'd like to thank Scuderia Ferrari again for the opportunity and I'm looking forward to my next outing later this season," Schwartzman concluded.