Leclerc Would Be Surprised If Ferrari 'Was Not In Mix' For Podium Fight

Friday, 01 March 2024 at 13:30

Charles Leclerc said after the second practice session ahead of the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix he would be surprised if Ferrari wasn't in the mix.

Charles Leclerc finished eighth in the first practice session (FP1) and ninth in the second practice session (FP2). Even though that is not where the Ferrari F1 driver hopes to rank this weekend, he suggested his team was happy with their progress so far.

There have been some teams like Alpine that were negatively surprised because they seemed to be struggling a lot more than predicted.

There have also been teams like Mercedes, which found more pace than expected, so they were positively surprised. The 26-year-old asserted Ferrari doesn't belong in either of these categories as he told the media:

"At least on our side… no bad surprises. No good surprises either, just exactly as we expected the car to be. So we went through our programme."

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The Monegasque admitted he made a small mistake during his qualifying simulation lap in FP2, which resulted in P9 but wouldn't probably account for the whole gap of +0.739 seconds to Lewis Hamilton in P1.

"In FP2, it was a bit more… I mean, I did a small mistake on my fast lap, and it's a one-lap tyre, so then that was it. But apart from that, it's all about tomorrow now, trying to focus to do a step forward."

While Ferrari didn't shine in the results from the first two practice sessions, the team plans to unleash their full pace during Friday's qualifying. Leclerc said he would be surprised if his team weren't in the mix for a podium fight with their rivals from the previous season.

"I would be surprised if that is not the case, for sure. I expect to be there with the others; the only question mark is obviously Red Bull, how far ahead they are in front. But with the others, I would be surprised if we are not in the mix, yes."