Charles Leclerc finished at the top on the first track day in Melbourne. Ferrari seemed excellent in race pace, and the Monegasque feels the Maranello team is closer to Red Bull at this venue, but the Austrian side still seem to have a bit of an edge.
Charles Leclerc and Ferrari were the stars of the best Friday of the season, at least so far. The best time achieved in Free Practice 2 and the consistency in the times shown today are hopeful signs and open up various possibilities for a different weekend from the first two in Bahrain and Jeddah.
Charles Leclerc ended the day almost four-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, but the Monegasque, mindful of the past few years, knows that tomorrow he will have to deal with the Dutchman and the RB20 even though today they were not able to shine as they had in the first two outings of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
“For now, the feelings are good. We’ve had a positive day from the first laps in FP1 to the end of FP2, so it’s a good start, but we have to continue to work hard because I’m sure there will be surprises tomorrow and there’s no reason to be a bit ahead of everyone else again tomorrow, so there is still room for improvement in some things, our race run was quite good, which is encouraging, but let’s see.” – the Monegasque pointed out at the end of the second free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.
“It’s all very complicated. Melbourne is a very challenging track, with quite high curbs and the wind. And there’s also only one clean line, every time you go a bit off track you lose a lot of grip, so it’s a [challenge], but we are fast, so we are enjoying it, but we have to wait and see tomorrow if we will be fast.” – he added.
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It’s hard to predict a Ferrari pole tomorrow, but Charles Leclerc sees the Scuderia in a better position compared to the first two races of the season. The SF-24s have adapted well to Melbourne right away and could also be closer in pace compared to Red Bull.
“I would say we are in a better position compared to the first two races, but Red Bull has not yet pushed, so we have to wait and see what their potential is. I believe they are still ahead, but this weekend we might have our best chance since the start of the season. The race pace is quite strong, but again it’s very difficult to make a comparison because some drivers had a lot of traffic, while we had relatively clean laps, but it looked quite good. So, it’s better that Friday went well rather than the opposite. So it’s a good start, but we need to continue to push and see what is possible.” – Charles Leclerc concluded.
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