Ferrari drivers confident but cautious

On a short and nervous track which suits the SF90 better than the Circuit Paul-Ricard visited last week, the single-seaters of Maranello stood out this Friday with the best time in Free Practice 2 for Charles Leclerc. 

« I don't attach much importance to this reference., tempered the Monegasque when he got out of the car. The conditions were difficult but I felt the car pretty well. On the long stints, with the medium tires, it was a little more complicated but it was still a positive day so we are happy. 

Afterwards, we have to work to continue to progress and stay ahead of the Mercedes in qualifying. I think they will be much faster on Saturday. It will be difficult to beat them but not impossible. It's up to us to put everything in order ». 

Dominant of a second free session that was chaotic to say the least, Leclerc did not finish with the reference of the day, property of Lewis Hamilton with a time of 1'04'838 in EL1 (compared to 1'15''086 in EL2 for the former champion of Formula 2).

The world championship leader, however, was running on soft Pirelli tires during his best lap when the best ranked Ferrari in the morning, that of Sebastian Vettel in 2nd position at 0''144, ran with the theoretically slower Medium tires.

« In free practice, we always seem more efficient than in qualifying and race configuration so we have to remain careful, debriefed the German. We continue to test different things to try to get closer to Mercedes. 

We sought to better understand the developments introduced in France. I think it was more conclusive. We can still improve the car. Maybe the route suits us better but it's very short so it's difficult to tell the difference ». 

Vettel was also one of the three drivers who made a mistake in the afternoon but unlike Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) the four-time world champion managed not to hit the barriers after his slide at Turn 10.
 
« It's normal to attack a little in free practice, has explained Vettel. Unfortunately we were unable to complete our simulated long stint on soft tires but apart from that, the incident had no impact. The car is in good condition. I stopped in time (laughs).”