Naomi Schiff shares what a source close to Ferrari said after surprising Dutch Grand Prix result

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Before the start of Sunday’s race at Zandvoort, it appeared as though the three drivers who were going to finish on the podium would come from the first two rows of the grid.

McLaren have looked sensational for months and it wasn’t a surprise to see Lando Norris cross the finish line with a healthy lead over Max Verstappen at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez losing places is no longer a surprise but a surprisingly off day for Oscar Piastri and Mercedes opened up an unexpected opportunity.

For the second race in succession, Charles Leclerc guided his Ferrari into the top three and he happily took his place on the podium alongside Norris and Verstappen.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

His teammate Carlos Sainz didn’t have the easiest time on Saturday, missing out on Q3 altogether, but he made up five places to pick up a healthy batch of points for Frederic Vasseur’s outfit.

Speaking on Sky Sports F1 after the race, Naomi Schiff was talking about what a source close to Ferrari told her during the Grand Prix about their unexpectedly strong performance.

Ferrari still have work to do to be consistently on the same level as Mercedes and appear to be slightly behind Red Bull and McLaren even when they’re on top form.

That has to be addressed sooner rather than later especially with Lewis Hamilton’s arrival edging ever closer.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

What source close to Ferrari told Naomi Schiff about Ferrari’s surprise performance at the Dutch Grand Prix

Speaking after the race, Schiff said: “Charles came into this weekend stating that this is the track that last year they had some sort of revelation for understanding of the car.

“So, understanding is the key word and they’ve actually left here with no understanding of what’s going on.

“I mean, I messaged a source relatively close to the team, quite close to the team during the race asking where’s this performance come from overnight.

“And the answer was, ‘Good question!’, so probably they wouldn’t have analysed any data at that point either but having heard from Charles there and Carlos, they both still don’t really understand where this pace has come from.

“I don’t know how much of it is masked by the fact that Max was also significantly off the pace.

“I mean, we’re saying they had a good performance but let’s not forget that Charles finished 25 seconds behind the leader.

“So, it is still better than it was compared to the Red Bulls, compared to the Mercedes but compared to the McLaren of Lando Norris, they still have a lot of work to do.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Charles Leclerc was fuming during the Dutch Grand Prix with his Ferrari engineer

Ferrari will be pleased that they managed to outscore Mercedes at Zandvoort but Vasseur will want to know exactly why the car is faster on Sundays than during qualifying, especially with an update package they still don’t fully understand.

Leclerc wasn’t happy with his race engineer on the team radio during the car but he still maximised his performance during the Grand Prix.

Sainz will be delighted he managed to leapfrog Perez and both drivers benefitted from a very strong strategy from the team.

The Monegasque driver managed to undercut Piastri during his only pit stop and despite the Australian storming his way to the back of his Ferrari, he couldn’t ever find a way past.

The Italian Grand Prix should be a strong event for Ferrari and they’ll want to impress in front of the Tifosi.

However, McLaren look unstoppable right now and Red Bull have plenty of motivation to close the gap.