Who Charles Leclerc sees ahead of Ferrari: “We’re not in the best position”

Charles Leclerc was the fastest driver on the Sepang International Circuit at the end of the second free practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the Monegasque driver remains modest in his assessment of his performance. The Ferrari driver warns: “We mustn’t underestimate the competition.”

After finishing first in FP2 and fourth in FP1, Leclerc said: “It’s very close, and overall it was a very, very difficult day. The track conditions were very, very tricky. The track was quite dirty and very slippery. So I think the situation will change and evolve significantly from one day to the next, and we need to err on the side of caution and anticipate that as best we can. But today wasn’t a bad day.”

Red Bull Racing stands out

The Monegasque driver: “I felt quite comfortable in the car, but I still get the feeling that, for example, the Red Bull has stood out so far this weekend. In my opinion, Isack (Hadjar, ed.) made a few mistakes in the final part of the lap, and Max (Verstappen, ed.) didn’t set his lap on soft tyres. So I don’t think we’re in the best position, and Mercedes is also a bit difficult to gauge.”

Don’t underestimate Mercedes either

On Mercedes, who have brought upgrades but were still experiencing problems, Leclerc said: “They don’t make mistakes often, so I wouldn’t underestimate them. I’m sure they’ll be very strong as soon as they get everything sorted. They’ve been the favourites from the start, right from the first race, and normally things work out very well when they make changes to the car. Let’s see how it goes. But the best thing we can do anyway is to focus on ourselves and make the most of what we’ve got.”

Conditions at Sepang are tricky. Leclerc: “In my opinion, tyre wear will be the main issue this weekend. That’ll make the race very interesting, and we need to keep it under control. We saw a lot of tyre wear today. I think we basically have a good race car, but there’s still a lot of work to do, and a small difference in some corners can make a huge difference to tyre wear. But we had a good day today.”

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