Charles Leclerc expects Red Bull has more pace in hand despite leading practice at the Australian Grand Prix.
Ferrari topped both sessions on Friday as Formula 1 took to the track at an upgraded Albert Park for the first time since 2019, with the Monegasque leading Max Verstappen by a quarter of a second in FP2.
But with traffic and initial problems with car balance, Leclerc thinks that gap wasn’t representative.
“Yes, I think already today they have more than what they’ve shown just because they did not put the lap together,” he told Formula1.com.
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“Max had a bit of traffic in his fast lap. It is going to be very close, so we will have to maximise our car to be starting on pole on Sunday.
“It’s a very tricky track,” the championship leader noted. “I mean it’s quicker than before, quite slippery also, so it takes a bit of time before the track improves and gets the final grip for qualifying but overall, it was quite a positive day for us.
“A tricky one – FP1 especially was very tricky for me; FP2 we got a little bit better working on the car. Hopefully, we will do another step forward for tomorrow in FP3.”
It feels good to be back ???#FP1 #AusGP @Carlossainz55 pic.twitter.com/C0fU7Ztgxb
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) April 8, 2022
With an altered layout, reprofiled corners and a new track surface at Albert Park this year, Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz admits practice was a day of adjustment.
“It has been an interesting Friday as we had to deal with a lot of new things compared to the last time that we raced here,” the Spaniard, who finished third quickest, said.
“The track is completely different from what it used to be: it’s definitely faster and the new tarmac feels totally different in terms of grip as far as I can remember.
“We need to keep working on understanding how the tyres behave but, in general, I think we have a good baseline to start preparing for tomorrow’s qualifying.”