Leclerc remains realistic after leading the way on Friday

Charles Leclerc shared his delight after he topped the timing sheets of a chaotic FP2 in Abu Dhabi, but revealed Ferrari still have work to do if they want to remain for the fight at the front.

Leclerc missed out FP1 as many teams took the opportunity to install their rookie academy drivers and when he returned to the track, the Monegasque was uncatchable.

“Yeah, because I only did one lap on the medium [tyre] then straightaway a lap on the soft and it was feeling pretty good.” Leclerc said, reflecting on his run. “It’s a good sign when it starts like this, so [I] hope we can have a great weekend from now on.”

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“It’s true that also Mercedes looked very strong,” he added. “I don’t know what happened exactly in FP2 – they looked a little bit less strong compared to FP1, so we’ve still got a lot of work to do because we will be fighting with them this weekend.”

Ferrari are currently engulfed in heated battle for runners-up spot in the Constructors table as only 4 points separate them from Mercedes.