Charles Leclerc snatched second from Lando Norris on lap 18 of the Zandvoort sprint, and the deciding factor wasn't racecraft — it was battery strategy. Norris arrived at Turn 1 "quite slow" on the main straight, his deployment falling short of what Leclerc had banked. With only one practice session before sprint qualifying, teams were still guessing at energy management, and McLaren guessed wrong.
Leclerc eventually gapped Norris by four seconds, but couldn't touch George Russell's Mercedes up front — Russell had deployment dialed in too, keeping the Ferrari at bay by 1.3 seconds. The pass on Norris was the only position change in the top fifteen, a rarity at a circuit already notoriously hard to overtake on.
Both Leclerc and Russell expect the field to converge on optimal deployment by race day, which means Sunday's main event could be a procession unless tire deg opens a window.
Read the full story at Motorsport.com
