Charles Leclerc says Ferrari enjoyed one of its strongest Fridays of the year following the opening day of practice at the Canadian Grand Prix.
After the first practice outing saw minimal running due to CCTV issues, the extended FP2 session saw Leclerc finish in fifth.
The Monegasque driver tallied 38 laps during the 90-minute session and asserts that he had a strong car beneath him despite his fastest lap being almost four-tenths off the pace.
“Well, in terms of feeling, it’s among the good Fridays for us,” the Leclerc said. “I had a really, really good feeling with the car, so that’s positive.
“Tomorrow will be a completely new day and honestly I don’t think there’s much that we can bring from today to tomorrow, as it’s going to rain probably. It’s going to be very interesting, but it’s been a positive Friday.”
Last time out in Spain, Leclerc endured a difficult weekend as he failed to progress past Q1 during Saturday’s qualifying session.
Ahead of the race weekend in Canada, Leclerc confirmed that Ferrari had not found a cause for his struggles, creating a worrying situation.
However, the Monegasque driver denies that he needs to make changes to prepare for Montreal’s qualifying session.
“No, we didn’t do any significant change,” he said. “We are obviously learning this package more and more, so we are optimising it.
“Everything we’ve done to the car went in the right direction, so that’s good.
“[The long runs were also] really good, so that’s positive. But it’s only Friday, so we need to wait and see. I
“It’s been a positive Friday, now we just need to have a clean qualifying tomorrow in very tricky conditions and then see what’s possible on Sunday.”
