Championship leader Verstappen propelled Leclerc to pole position in qualifying at Zandvoort on Saturday, edging the Ferrari driver by just two hundredths of a second in Q3.
Overtaking is notoriously difficult around the tight Zandvoort layout, making it important for Leclerc to make the jump over Verstappen early to have the best chance of closing the 98-point gap between them in the standings.
But Leclerc was hoping Ferrari could use the fact that they have two cars starting in the top three to their advantage, with team-mate Carlos Sainz P3 on the grid.
“It’s a track where it’s very difficult to overtake,” Leclerc said after qualifying.
“Hopefully we’ll be as close as we are today, and hopefully we can play a bit with Carlos and me to put Max under pressure.”
Leclerc thought opting for split strategies was “a good thing to do when you’re in this situation”, but was yet to discuss the options with the team.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Last year’s race at Zandvoort saw Mercedes try to split strategies with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in a bid to defeat Verstappen, only for the Dutchman to still comfortably win his home race.
Ferrari is aiming for its first race victory since the Austrian Grand Prix in mid-July, having seen the gap at the top of the two championships widen over the past three rounds.
Verstappen secured a resounding victory for Red Bull at Spa last weekend despite starting 14th on the grid, although the gap to Ferrari appears to have narrowed at Zandvoort.
Sainz predicted it would be a “close race” up front, noting that Red Bull and even Mercedes “seem to have something we haven’t had recently” on race day.
“But if we go back to France and Austria, we had something on Sunday, right?” Sainz added.
“So yeah, hopefully it’s more like this race and we can challenge Max for the whole race.”
Asked if he thought Mercedes would join the fight up front, Sainz replied: “Yeah, I think they’re going to be at least as fast as us in racing, and I think they’re going to be in the mix. the pit stops.
“It’s going to be a good fight with the other five cars.”
