Leclerc says Ferrari still has 'potential to improve'

40

Ferrari ended up top of the timesheets at the conclusion of Friday's two hour-long practice sessions for the Dutch Grand Prix at the Circuit Zandvoort.

Charles Leclerc's time of 1:10.902s was 0.154s quicker than his team mate Carlos Sainz despite the Spaniard making a small mistake in the chicane on his flying lap effort.

Leclerc wasn't getting carried away by the team's success, but predicted that there was more to come for the team heading into the weekend.

Read also: Leclerc and Sainz top Dutch FP2 after Hamilton sidelined

"It is looking good for now but we shouldn’t get carried away because it’s just Friday," said the Monegasque.

"I think there is still quite a bit of potential for us to improve," he added. "[But] I feel our competitors have a bit of performance still to reveal.

"Our race pace was not as good as the single lap performance so we will be focusing on that," he continued. "For the race, I don’t think there will be much overtaking so it will be important to secure a good grid position tomorrow."

As for the remodelled circuit - which is back on the F1 calendar for the first time in 41 years - Leclerc gave it a definite a thumbs up.

"I really enjoyed driving on the new Zandvoort. The banking feels very special on the first timed lap and it’s just overall a fun track to drive on."

Sainz was also pleased with the track and how the team had performed on Friday, and hopeful that they would be able to match their successes earlier in the season at Monaco and Baku.

"It’s an impressive and different track compared to what we are used to," he said. It was fun to try different lines in FP1 around the banking corners and to push a bit more in FP2.

"I enjoyed myself out there today and the atmosphere with the fans close to the track is great!

"In terms of performance, we felt confident straightaway with the car balance and with the car performance.

"We managed to do some decent running on soft tyres, whereas other competitive cars were caught out by the [red] flags, so that’s maybe why we look so good on the time sheet.

"For sure we have room to improve, but still the car felt good and it was a positive Friday for us."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.