<\/p>\n
Leclerc and team-mate Lewis Hamilton set the pace during Friday practice at the Hungaroring, giving Ferrari an encouraging start to the weekend despite difficult track conditions and complaints from drivers about balance and grip.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leclerc topped first practice ahead of Max Verstappen and Hamilton before reporting that \u201csomething broke\u201d on the Ferrari towards the end of the session. Leclerc\u2019s car was wheeled back to the garage, but the issue was repaired in time for second practice.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hamilton then led the afternoon session, with Leclerc second and 0.148 seconds behind. Verstappen and Lando Norris were both around half a second adrift, although Ferrari remained cautious about reading too much into Friday\u2019s times. \u201cIt was a relatively strong day. From the beginning I felt quite good with the car, and performance seemed to be good straightaway so that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d Leclerc said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leclerc said Ferrari\u2019s strong Friday does not guarantee an advantage when qualifying begins. \u201cThe weekend is still long. From Friday to Saturday, we see teams making a jump in performance. Normally we are on the back foot on the Friday so it\u2019s a good thing that we had a good Friday, but we still need to stay on it and work hard in order to get better for tomorrow,\u201d Leclerc said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leclerc expects the field to close up during qualifying and said Ferrari must execute cleanly to remain in contention for pole position.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be tight tomorrow as always. I don\u2019t expect us to have the gap that we\u2019ve had today, so we\u2019ll have to do everything perfect. If the feeling is there, I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll do a good job in Q3,\u201d Leclerc said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur also warned against assuming Friday\u2019s advantage would continue. \u201cIt was a bit more messy today in the afternoon in FP2 with traffic, the red flag and so on,\u201d Vasseur said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Vasseur said Saturday would provide a clearer picture once teams run in more representative conditions. \u201cSo far so good but it\u2019s not on Friday that you\u2019re doing pole, and even less that you win the race. It\u2019s good to start the weekend like this but let\u2019s see tomorrow. It will be another story,\u201d Vasseur said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–F1\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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