Charles Leclerc says "probably the worst Friday of the season" falling right after Formula 1's summer break is a big "wake-up call" for Ferrari at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Ferrari was hoping to bounce back from Leclerc's lost victory chance at the Hungarian GP but has not made a strong start to the Zandvoort weekend.
Lewis Hamilton was the faster Ferrari driver in FP2, but he was 0.848s slower than Lando Norris's pacesetting McLaren, with team-mate Leclerc a further tenth adrift.
Ferrari's long run pace wasn't all that impressive either, placing behind McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes, and only just ahead of Aston Martin, although Hamilton's long run was completed on the hard tyres.
"I will sum it up as a very, very, very, very difficult Friday, probably the worst Friday of the season, which is right after the holiday so it's a little bit of a wake-up call," Leclerc said.
"But yeah, it’s OK. We've had some difficult Fridays, now it's up to us to turn the situation around. But for sure, it's not been an easy day.
"FP1 was extremely difficult, FP2 was slightly better, but still very still very far off where we want to be.
"I don't expect to fully [reverse] the situation, because I think McLaren is in a league of its own with Aston Martin in what was a surprise for us. But we'll try and improve the car. There's plenty to be done anyway."
Ferrari ran a conservative ride height for FP1, but it was running its car lower by FP2, which partly explains the uptick between sessions.
The two corners killing Ferrari
So, where is Ferrari losing the time to McLaren? Leclerc felt there were two main culprits on the 14-turn Zandvoort circuit.
"Basically 90% of the time we lose in two corners, and there's just something that our car cannot do at the moment," Leclerc explained.
"We are trying to find out why it's so concentrated in two corners. Normally, that's never the case.
"So yeah, we'll work in trying to find a solution for these two corners."
While Leclerc did not specify which two corners these were, his Ferrari lost out massively through the Turn 9 right-hander in particular, as well as the Turn 1 Tarzan - also a right-hander.
Around eight tenths of Leclerc's 0.944s deficit to Norris came through these two corners alone, with only a slender time loss elsewhere.
"I don't know. It's a very strange season," Leclerc said when asked what he can target for Saturday.
"I've never said that I will be on pole in Budapest [the Hungarian GP], so I don't want to really fix myself targets, because after what was a very difficult weekend, it's not very exciting targets, but I'm looking forward to try and turn the situation and try to make a miracle.
"But it's not going to be an easy weekend for us I think."
'I don't know how we'll find eight tenths'
Despite a spin in each practice session, Hamilton was the more comfortable Ferrari driver at the end of Friday.
"It's not been the worst of days. I think we were making progress," Hamilton said.
"We were obviously quite far off in P1, a lot further than normal. The first lap felt pretty decent, getting back, but then been a bit of a challenge from then.
"But we made some progress over lunch, so I think we progressed, but still quite a chunk off, so we have got some work to do overnight."
Hamilton felt there was a tenth and a half in the final corner that he could have found, as well as an extra tenth had he not spun while on softs in FP2.
"Then we've got some work to do with the set-up," he added.
"So I think we're pace-wise, for some reason, where we are.
"How we're going to find eight tenths, I really don't know, but we'll try our best."
