Charles Leclerc confident: “Gained valuable insight on SF-25, there’s room for more” – Suzuka GP. Charles Leclerc looks ahead to Saturday with confidence in Japan.

Seventh in the standings and almost five tenths off the top, but with two key takeaways: first, that it was a very constructive day in terms of understanding the car and its setup; second, that tomorrow, with the wind set to change direction, everything learned today could somehow prove less useful.

A smiling but realistic Charles Leclerc appeared before the microphones at the end of the second free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver chose to highlight how the work done behind the scenes provided much more useful insights than the standings would suggest, which were in some way influenced by the many red flags that broke up the rhythm.

Leclerc pointed out that Ferrari didn’t put everything together on this first day of free practice, so there is still room for improvement. Even more interestingly, the data gathered today will be especially helpful in the future.

“I think it was a positive day. I tried many things today. Because of that, I think it was also a very demanding day. We didn’t put everything together, but I feel the performance is probably better than what we saw,” the Monegasque driver commented at the end of the day.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I feel like everything we learned today will be completely different tomorrow, because the wind will change. It’ll be a significant change, especially on a track like this one.” – the Ferrari driver pointed out after the second free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.

It’s no coincidence that Charles Leclerc emphasized how important the wind factor is. On a circuit where great stability is needed in medium- and high-speed sections, gusts can have quite a significant impact on balance, as every aerodynamic map responds differently.

“In part I felt a bit frustrated, because I couldn’t complete a lap every time there was traffic or a red flag. So it was frustrating in that sense.” Early data still shows Ferrari to be quite competitive through the long sweeping sections, confirming progress seen already last year, though the car still struggles more in the slower parts.

“But I think it was a very constructive day. We made a lot of changes. I feel I learned a lot from this car today. And I feel like maybe I understand better what I want for the next races. So that’s always a positive thing.”

Clearly, though, the nearly five-tenths gap to the top still weighs heavily, and Leclerc doesn’t want to have any illusions about the SF-25’s potential on a track that, in theory, could have been more difficult due to the many bumps — as also seen in TV footage showing Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari scraping visibly with the skid block before the two Degner corners.

McLaren seems out of reach, but the Monegasque is mainly focused on maximizing the SF-25’s potential rather than looking at others: “We have to be careful because McLaren seems to be on another planet. But I feel I may have a clearer idea of how to maximize our potential, which is always a good thing.”