Charles Leclerc was pleased with the outcome of the free practice sessions at Silverstone on Friday, with the afternoon session seeing the Monegasque racer finishing inside the top ten.
The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team driver, who won at Silverstone twelve months ago in FIA Formula 2, had finished thirteenth fastest in the morning session but under the heat of the afternoon, set a time of 1:29.557s to end up tenth, just over two seconds off the outright pace of Sebastian Vettel.
Leclerc says he had a good feeling behind the wheel of the C37-Ferrari all day long, despite a spin in the closing moments of the afternoon session, and he hopes further progress can be made on Saturday as he bids for a second appearance in the top ten shootout of 2018.
“I am quite happy with how the day went,” said Leclerc. “I had a good feeling in the car, and we made quite a bit of progress between FP1 and FP2.
“The track offers some great challenges and I really enjoyed driving here, particularly in the fast corners. We will use what we have learned today and aim to make further progress for tomorrow’s sessions.”
Team-mate Marcus Ericsson was also happy with how his day went, with the Swede ending faster than Leclerc in eleventh in the morning session, although he slipped to fourteenth in the afternoon, thanks mainly to failing to improve on his earlier time. He is also eager to build on the promise of Friday and aim for a strong Qualifying on Saturday.
“It was quite a good Friday,” said Ericsson. “We managed to run through the planned programme. The car felt good in terms of balance and we have a good baseline to work from for the rest of the weekend.
“It is great to be back in Silverstone – I really enjoy driving on this track. The corners are very impressive, especially due to the high speeds we can reach with our cars this year. I look forward to building on today’s work for the rest of the weekend.”
