Leclerc - Slipping and sliding around Turkey track is "fun"

Charles Leclerc has bucked the trend of near-universal criticism of the Istanbul Park circuit by claiming the slippery track was "fun" to drive in the opening day of practice for Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix.

Leclerc showed strong pace for Ferrari in both of the two Friday sessions, setting the third fastest time in FP1, before finishing second in the day's later session, 0.401 seconds off Max Verstappen's session topping one minute 28.330secs.

"At first I was really not convinced by the grip of the track and I was like 'oh this is going to be a very bad day'," said the Ferrari driver. "But after a few laps I actually really enjoyed it so it was actually very, very fun to have such low grip.

"We need to understand why though. To be honest, it's probably not great to have a Friday like this [where] we don't learn much. In terms of driving it was very fun and we have been very competitive too."

With no support races taking place across the weekend, the only rubber that will be laid on the fresh Istanbul surface will come from F1 itself but rain is forecast to fall on Saturday, which could make the track even more treacherous.

He added: "I don't think it [the track] will improve much this weekend so it is good we have done quite a lot of mileage today to understand the conditions and hopefully we can maximise the result tomorrow."

Before you go...

We need studded tyres for Turkey's F1 “ice track” - Verstappen

"Ice rink" Istanbul Park "terrifying" - Hamilton

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