Silver Arrows at the top
He had also announced it to the microphones of Sky Sports F1 Charles Leclerc: “Mercedes seems to be ahead, we are second-third force”. The Ferrari representative, however, still had no idea what the gap was, in terms of performance, between the Silver Arrows and the rest of the field. Something more about this gap was learned during the FP2not so much in the qualifying simulation – where Mercedes and Ferrari recorded rather close performances – but rather in the race pace simulation. That is the real aspect that seems to scare Leclerc, as #16 himself confessed speaking to the microphones of the official F1 channel. Even the body language betrayed a certain certainty on the part of the Ferrari driver worry.
Gap to fill
“FP1 looked positive – began Leclerc, who in the first official round of the year was the fastest of all with half a second ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, 2nd – but then in FP2 I think the teams gradually started to show something more and unfortunately we seem to be at a disadvantage, especially compared to Mercedes who seem to be very strong indeed“.
“I don’t think they showed everything they have with little fuel – the Ferrari driver warned again – but with lots of fuel they were very impressive. It’s probably the first time we’ve seen how much they’re worth and They’re a little stronger than I would have likedbut that’s how things are. On the other hand, it was a rather positive start to the weekend and we will continue to work hard to try to maximize everything for tomorrow.”commented Leclerc.
