Leclerc holds out hope despite difficult training sessions: 'Car felt good'

Charles Leclerc is confident in himself and the car for the rest of the weekend. He tells Sky. Despite two practice sessions marked by problems, the Ferrari driver still has high hopes for the race.

Leclerc certainly did not have a good practice session on Friday. In the first practice he still managed to clock the second fastest time but due to a flat tyre he did not drive many laps in that session. In the second practice session, he had to settle for seventh place after crashing halfway through the session. The car was so badly damaged that the practice was immediately over for the Monegasque.

Looking back on the sessions, Leclerc acknowledges that things went wrong, but he does not let that destroy his confidence. "Not the best of Fridays, as we didn’t complete a great number of laps." Leclerc said. "In FP2, we completed some short runs. When we started with the long runs, I spun which ended my session. I don’t expect it to affect the rest of the weekend in any way and I am confident that we will have a good day tomorrow [Saturday], as the feeling in the car is good."

No grid penalty for Leclerc

Despite Leclerc having a heavy crash during practice, Ferrari has already indicated that the damage is not so bad that a grid penalty will follow. It is an important weekend for Leclerc, as he is just a few points ahead of Sergio Perez in the championship in the battle for second place.