Charles Leclerc reflects on a Dutch Grand Prix that he admits was probably the most difficult of the season.

Felipe Massa's ongoing legal action in terms of the 2008 title has revived memories of that wretched, indeed comical pit stop at that year's Singapore Grand Prix.

In the aftermath of Nelson Piquet's 'crash', the Brazilian pitted, only to be released with the fuel line still attached to the car. As the Ferrari driver ground to a halt at the end of the pitlane we were treated to the sight of his crew running to remove the fuel line and then returning to garage pit with it hoisted on their shoulders.

Fifteen years later things don't appear to have improved.

Following Sergio Perez' example of pitting at the end of the opening lap as the rain began to fall, Leclerc had the opportunity to turn his weekend around in the same way as the Mexican. Unfortunately, when he arrived at his garage there were no tyres waiting for him.

While Perez had rejoined in eleventh, Leclerc had dropped to seventeenth, and while the Mexican took the lead as the rest of the field began to pit, the Monegasque got as high as sixth.

However, as had been the case for much of the weekend, Leclerc was clearly struggling with a car that appeared to have a mind of its own, a situation not helped by a first lap clash with Oscar Piastri that left him with a damaged floor. Indeed, such was the damage his team eventually retired the car.

"In terms of result, obviously with a DNF like this it's not good," he said at race end, "but it's been an extremely difficult weekend. In terms of balance it is probably the most difficult weekend of the season, and driveability of the car.

"We need to look into it, because the last two, three races were getting better on that side of things and for some reason it worsened this weekend.

"Obviously I already had the first lap when we had the damage," he continued. "I could feel much more than the guys were telling me on the radio. Initially it was 5 to 10 points of downforce, what I've been told, but obviously then we realised it was more than 60, and more than 60 is a different category. After that, the first lap, it was all uphill."

Asked about that first pit stop, team boss, Frederic Vasseur explained: "The rain was in the last corner and he decided to pit, it was a very late call, but I think it was still the right decision because we were in a much better position than before, even with the six or seven seconds we lost in the pit lane.

"For sure, if you are ten seconds behind or five seconds further back on the road and you make the call, it is much easier. But I don't have to complain about this because it was the right call."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Zandvoort here.