Leclerc says Ferrari looks 'in the fight' for home victory

Charles Leclerc and his team mate Carlos Sainz are feeling emboldened by their prospects for Ferrari's home race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza this weekend after a positive time in practice on Friday.

Leclerc was second quickest in FP1 with Sainz close being in fourth, while their relative positions were inverted in FP2 which saw a red flag stoppage.

“It was quite a positive Friday," who finished the second session in fifth place just 0.154s off pace setter Lewis Hamilton. "However there’s still some work to do as always. We cannot rely on a good Friday to have a good weekend overall."

Last week's race at Zandvoort saw the team suffer a poor Friday but they then enjoyed a much better time in qualifying which set them up for an unexpected and very welcome podium on Sunday.

It felt like a turning point after a tough time since a failed floor upgrade in Spain put them behind their main rivals including Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes, and Leclerc is hoping that this improvement continues at Monza.

• Read also: Hamilton pips Norris in FP2 as Red Bull toils at Monza

"We are closer than where we were in Zandvoort," said Leclerc. "The feeling is quite nice, everything we brought to the car seems to be working as expected, which is always a good thing.

“Now we’ve just got to focus on the balance, because it’s been a tricky day balance-wise," he said. "Performance-wise we were pretty good, but balance-wise there are still some steps we can do in the right direction.”

“However I still feel like McLaren are strong, and also Mercedes are very strong. We’ll have a lot of competition tomorrow," he acknowledged. "But we are more in the fight than in Zandvoort.

"That’s a good thing for Saturday and then hopefully on Sunday we’ll be strong too," he added. "The race on Sunday will be tricky for everyone, especially because of the new asphalt, so tyre management will be key."

Leclerc's team mate was also focused on the effect of the new track surface and changes to key kerbs at Monza.

“I think it was a very challenging day for everyone out there,” Sainz said. “The layout is the same, but the track feels completely different to any other year with this peaky new surface.

“It makes the car a bit on the edge in all the medium-speed corners, and the braking is very tricky into turn 1. Even if the lap times are the same as other years, the kerbs and the tarmac have changed a lot.

"I think today in particular is very difficult to read," he suggested. "I don’t have a clear picture of who is fastest, who is quick in the long-run, short-run.

"It definitely looks like McLaren and Mercedes seem to be in a good spot," he said. "[As for us], we have flashes of being very quick sometimes, and others a bit slower.

"We were quick on the medium tyres, but then on the soft we were nothing special And then on the mediums in the long-run we seemed to be struggling a bit with the graining. I don’t know..

"It’s going to be interesting to see who manages to take the right conclusions out of today, because there’s a lot of information gathered," he said. "It’s a very new circuit. [Who's going to] put it together for tomorrow and Sunday?"

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