Leclerc still confident despite 'unfortunate end' to FP2

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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc brushed off the misfortune that caused him to end his Friday early, despite having set the fastest time in Free Practice 2 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Leclerc had been quickest of anyone in the unrepresentative daytime conditions of FP1 with a time of 1:30.772s. The cooler night time conditions saw him trim that further to 1:30.074s.

But shortly after setting that time he clipped the inside barrier at the apex of turn 4 and damaged his suspension, forcing him to limp back to pit lane so that the Ferrari engineers could begin overnight repairs.

Read also: Leclerc fastest in Jeddah FP2, but both Ferraris clip the wall

"It was an unfortunate end to an otherwise good day," he said later. "In FP2 it was a small mistake, but not one that makes me lose confidence. I expected the front to slide around more and I clipped the inside wall at turn 4.

"Focusing on tomorrow, I think the pace is there. It’s a bit of a shame we couldn’t get the high fuel laps done, but we should be in the mix for tomorrow."

His team mate Carlos Sainz also had a good day, improving from fourth on the timesheets in first practice to third in the evening, just a tenth slower than Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

But like his team mate, Sainz ended up tapping the wall in a separate incident. While not as bad as Leclerc's hit, it was still enough to force Ferrari to end Sainz's session prematurely before he could complete any longer race laps.

"Unfortunately, we didn’t do the long run at the end of FP2 after I brushed the wall and we had to stay in the garage," he said. "As last year, understanding which is the best tyre for the race is important for the strategy

"As expected these cars are behaving differently here in Jeddah compared to Bahrain, he continued. We keep learning more about how to set up the car for different conditions and corners.

"Porpoising was a bit of an issue at a certain point, but I’m not concerned," he concluded. "We’ll see what tomorrow brings."

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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.