Charles Leclerc was pleased by his strong start to the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, but acknowledged that there was work to be done and that Ferrari couldn't afford to rest on its laurels in Marina Bay.
Leclerc topped first practice in daylight conditions, pipping McLaren's Lando Norris by just 0.076s. After the sun set, the margin was even closer - down to 0.058s - and this time it was Norris with the upper hand.
While the floodlit FP2 was closest to the conditions that the teams will face in tomorrow's qualifying and Sunday's race, the margins between them are effectively meaningless making it look like a two house race.
“It’s been a good Friday and it’s better to have a good one than a bad one," Leclerc commented. "It’s a good starting point. Now we have to find the right balance and put it all together in qualifying
With the rest of the field half a second behind, even the slightest improvement could provide either Leclerc or Norris with a crucial advantage when it comes to winning pole or the Grand Prix, as Leclerc is all too well aware.
“It felt good, but there is still some work to be done,” Leclerc agreed when questioned by the media in the paddock. “The car didn’t exactly feel like I wanted, so we still have to try and improve it. We still have to push forward.
“Just a bit more balance in the car, putting everything together in terms of driving and then we should be in a good place for tomorrow," he summarised when asked about which areas he considered critical this week.
Leclerc has been on pole at this venue twice before, in 2019 and 2022 but ended up finishing in second place on both occasions. He's hoping to repeat his success on Saturday, and go one better on Sunday.
“I think we are in the mix,” he said. “But let’s see. I just hope the picture doesn’t change much for tomorrow." One thing he was wary of was the weather, with the outlook suggesting that rain could well be a factor.
"With the forecast for the rest of the weekend, it’s a little bit up and down," he acknowledged. "We will have to adapt very quickly, so we cannot rely on [having had] a good Friday."
And he felt it unlikely that he and Norris would be so far ahead of the rest of the field. The pair finished FP2 with over half a second in hand over Carlos Sainz who was quickest in both sessions today.
“I would be very surprised if we have the same advantage as we had today - the same gap from me to the third place," he said. I really believe everyone will be much closer tomorrow and it will be much tighter.
"Then we'll have to understand if it changes the pecking order or not," he added. At the moment both Mercedes and Red Bull appear to be struggling while RB had been unexpectedly strong.
"I think Red Bull and Mercedes are still yet to show a bit their hand," commented Sainz from the other side of the Ferrari garage. "Lando seemed very quick also. I think we're in for another interesting weekend."
Sainz himself is setting his sights on closing the gap to Leclerc and Norris ahead of him, revealing that his times today - while good enough for P3 - had been blighted by brake issues.
“It’s been a bit of a topic in our team this year, running through some brake issues normally on Friday,” he said. "Today it was my turn to face them. A lot of inconsistency on the brakes throughout FP2, especially on cooldown laps.
"Already in FP1 I could feel there was something not quite right with the brakes and we seemed to carry that into FP2, so I struggled to get the most out of the two sessions
“We were having plenty of issues out there which doesn’t help my confidence or preparation for the weekend," he admitted. Other than that, the car seems to be in a good window.
"When we are not having these issues and whenever we are having clean laps we are quick out there, so it’s not something that concerns me if we manage to put everything together tomorrow.
But he was optimistic that the team would fix things overnight. “I think so, I think we have a strong enough car to be in the fight. I’m confident that we can figure out what happened today and make a big step tomorrow."
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