Ferrari left the Dutch Grand Prix with a solid haul of 31 points after the Sprint and race day combined, but there's a nagging sense they could've grabbed something much bigger. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth while Charles Leclerc crossed the line in fifth, a respectable outcome on a circuit where passing is an absolute nightmare. The real problem? Yesterday's qualifying left both drivers starting from the third row, and at Zandvoort, that's basically like starting from the back.

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Once the lights went out, both Ferraris immediately showed their teeth. Charles absolutely nailed his start and muscled his way up two spots to fourth, while Lewis dropped back to fifth. Then Max Verstappen crashed and brought out the red flag, which shuffled things around again. From that point on, it was a tactical masterclass from the Ferrari garage. Charles picked off Oscar Piastri on lap 34 with a brilliant move through the opening corners, and Lewis followed him through a lap later. The pair then went their separate ways with strategy, with Charles running Soft, Medium, and Hard tyres while Lewis committed to a longer first stint on the Softs.

A Virtual Safety Car on lap 55 gave both drivers a chance to reset their tyres back to Softs without losing the usual time penalty. They resumed fourth and fifth, with Lewis in front of Charles this time. Hamilton was hunting George Russell hard in the final stages and actually made his move on lap 70, but another VSC immediately neutralised everything and froze the positions. It was frustrating timing that cost them real opportunities.

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Charles Leclerc was upbeat about the pace they showed, admitting the VSC cost them but praising his own tyre management and that overtake on Piastri. He reckoned qualifying was their main weakness and vowed to improve there. Hamilton echoed that sentiment, saying the race pace was strong enough but they need to maximise every opportunity to stay in the championship fight. Team principal Fred Vasseur acknowledged the pace was decent but admitted execution wasn't perfect, pointing to a slow pit stop and losing Piastri at the restart as areas needing work.

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With two weeks until Monza, Ferrari has homework to do. That Italian Grand Prix is their playground, their home race where the tifosi will be roaring them on. Both drivers are hungry to deliver something special there, and based on today's race pace, they've absolutely got the car capable of doing it if they can nail the qualifying.

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