Leclerc ‘surprised’ by podium after wretched Dutch GP weekend

Charles Leclerc has admitted great surprise over his podium result at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Monegasque driver crossed the line in third place, having qualified in sixth.

Leclerc made up one position on the opening lap by overtaking Sergio Perez, before Ferrari’s strategy saw him undercut Oscar Piastri and George Russell.

Leclerc asserted he was not expecting to be in contention for a top-three result after suffering a largely difficult weekend at Zandvoort.

“I’m very, very surprised,” Leclerc said after the race. “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.

“We’ve been struggling from Friday until the race. In the race, we found some more pace, executed a perfect strategy. We undercutted two of our competitors there, and then we managed to keep them behind.

“So a really strong race for the team, and really happy to start the second half like this.”

Leclerc moved around the outside of Perez on the opening lap to pull himself into the top five – but even with his rivals close ahead, he was not anticipating an ability to further climb up the pecking order.

“The start, I knew it was a big opportunity,” he stated. “I didn’t know that later on we would also have the pace to keep him behind, but I knew that the first lap was an opportunity for us to gain one or two positions.

“I went for the pass, it all worked well, but never would I have thought that I would stand on the podium after such a difficult weekend for the team.”