Charles Leclerc finished in the top 5 on the opening day of the Spanish Grand Prix, and the Ferrari driver welcomed a better-than-expected pace, though he struggled with the heat on a track that neared 50 degrees throughout Friday.
“It’s very hot on track, which makes things a bit tricky, as grip wasn’t as good as we’d hoped. However, the day was more positive than expected: the car is performing better and I hope we can unlock more before tomorrow’s qualifying,” said Leclerc.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but we don’t seem far off. So we’ll focus on a few key points tonight to get the most out of it.”
The Monegasque agreed with other drivers that the technical directive on front wings doesn’t change anything: “We adapt quickly, we all have the tools in the car to simulate something similar and all the teams have that, so not much difference.”
Lewis Hamilton posted the 11th fastest time and did not have his best Friday, lamenting a difficult car to drive and a lack of pace. The Briton remains frustrated with the SF-25.
“The day wasn’t fun, it wasn’t a good day, not just for us but for the whole grid, with confusing car behaviour and mixed performances,” said Hamilton, who told the radio his car was “undriveable.”
“On our side, we made changes in FP2 that will give us a direction to follow tonight. We’ll then focus on data analysis and improvements for tomorrow.”
The seven-time world champion insists he’s keeping hope alive within the team: “I’d say I’m motivating the team right now. We have to keep our heads down, keep working and not give up. We keep pushing, focusing on solving the problems, which is what we’ll try to do.”
“It’s true that on Fridays you hope for a good day, and it doesn’t go well. But then you have a weekend like Monaco where suddenly the car feels great and I honestly thought the car would be good today.”
“It wasn’t too bad in FP1, but FP2 was much worse. Naturally, it’s frustrating for everyone. We had an issue that caused us to lose downforce, so I hope with a fix for tomorrow we’ll be in a better position.”
Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur responded to his driver’s comments on the difficulties driving the SF-25: “The comments were a bit extreme on the radio today, but he also did a good final stint on softs with a similar lap time.”
“That means the car wasn’t as bad as what he said on the radio. But again, the comments they make in the car are not a big deal to me. As long as they’re back on track and we have a constructive debrief, that’s what matters most.”
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