Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari has topped the first two Free Practice sessions of his home grand prix in Monaco, gathering valuable data for the rest of the weekend. The Monégasque driver completed twenty-nine laps on the Medium tyre in Free Practice One, before completing thirty laps altogether on the Hard and Soft compounds in the second practice session.
Leclerc was happy with how his Friday went, but continues to look ahead at the rest of the weekend in order to maximise the performance in his Ferrari F1-75 car.
“It was great to see so many people around the track today, considering that it is only Friday. It really makes me look forward to the next two days and hopefully we can give our tifosi a good result.
“We had consistent running and completed a good number of laps. We still have to fine tune the balance but, all in all, it wasn’t too bad and we just need to make the usual step from Friday to Saturday now.“
The young Ferrari driver will be hoping for a smooth weekend in Monaco, after an unlucky car failure in Spain saw the number sixteen drop behind Max Verstappen in the world championship standings. He will also be hoping to put an end to his unlucky streak, of never finishing a Monaco Grand Prix.
“Qualifying will be tight tomorrow” – Carlos Sainz Jr
The number fifty-five driver of Carlos Sainz Jr finished third and second respectively in the first two practice sessions around the streets of Monte Carlo, following the same tyre compound schedule as his team-mate. The Spaniard completed a total of sixty laps over the course of the two sessions and is happy that the team were able to complete their programme.
“An encouraging day after completing our programme and performing well on track. Monaco is always a demanding track, but also a very exciting and fun circuit to push the car.
“Qualifying will be tight tomorrow by the looks of today, but so far we’re happy with the job we’ve done and the way we’ve been improving every time we went out on track. Now it’s all about the small details and finding the perfect balance for qualifying tomorrow.“
Sainz was able to qualify fourth for last year’s Monaco event, and will be hoping to improve on that this year as Ferrari look to have the edge on Oracle Red Bull Racing so far in the weekend.
