Ferrari form “too good to believe” – Leclerc

Charles Leclerc feels Ferrari’s form for the Monaco Grand Prix appears “too good to believe” after spearheading a one-two in practice.

After sitting out almost all of FP1 due to a gearbox problem, Leclerc ended up four-tenths of a second quicker than Lewis Hamilton’s third-placed Mercedes in the second session, with Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz just over a tenth adrift.

Assessing Ferrari's remarkable day, home hero Leclerc said: “I was quite surprised it ended that way.

"With Monaco, it is important to do as many laps as you can and in FP1 I had only done four laps. But I felt quite at ease with the car in FP2 and managed to put in that lap.

“There’s still a bit of margin but on the other hand I’m sure that Mercedes and Red Bull have more margin than we have, so we shouldn’t get carried away too much.

“It’s looking good but for now it’s looking a bit too good to believe it, so let’s wait and see. Saturday we will know exactly where we are in qualifying and then we will go from there for the race.”

With no running on Friday at Monaco, the teams will have extra time to analyse the data and plan their strategies for the crucial qualifying session on Saturday and the race itself, with Leclerc vowing to “work hard” on Friday to try to stay ahead.

Sainz was delighted with his performance after finishing just 0.112s behind Leclerc.

“It has been a very positive first day but we know it is only practice," said Sainz.

“Things can change a lot from Thursday to Saturday at this track, so we will stay focused.

"Despite being quite happy with the car, we’ll keep working hard over the next two days to understand where we can improve.”

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