Leclerc says Ferrari 'needs to keep its feet on the ground'
Charles Leclerc hailed a smooth, trouble-free Friday for Ferrari at their home race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, but warned that they had to make sure they didn't get carried away.
Leclerc was fastest in both of today's practice sessions, while arch rivals Red Bull appeared to be unusually struggling for pace and performance.
That leaves the team optimistic that they can achieve a statement win over not just Red Bull but also McLaren and Mercedes which also look to be in the mix for victory this weekend.
But Leclerc knows how quickly things can turn around, and says they need to make sure they don't get too carried away with their prospects ahead of Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
“We need to keep our feet on the ground," he warned, predicting that there would be "big changes with the track conditions this weekend, especially in terms of the wind, so we will have to anticipate that.
"It will have a big effect on all the cars, and there we have to be the best at anticipating those changes.
“Track position here is absolutely everything so qualifying will be super important and it will be important for us to do the job in qualifying. So there is still a lot of work for to do."
But even with that display of caution and reserve, Leclerc acknowledged that today could hardly have gone better for the team.
"It has been a positive day overall," he said. "Everything went smoothly and we ran all the tests we planned on track. We seem to be pretty competitive for now.
The team is using the opportunity of racing on home ground to bring a package of upgrades to boost the performance of the SF-24. "The updates seem to be working as expected, which is another positive," he confirmed.
“The feeling with the car is quite good," he continued. "And being at home is always a special feeling for Ferrari, being here and having so much support all over the track means so much for all of us.
"It was great to see so many red flags in the grandstands," he added," promising to do everything he can to deliver for the Tifosi this weekend. "We will give it our all to have a great qualifying tomorrow."
Leclerc last won a Grand Prix in 2022, while his team mate Carlos Sainz was victorious just two months ago in Australia and is hungry for more.
“I’m feeling good,” reported the Spaniard who was sixth in the second practice session today. “I had a good FP1, I felt really at home with the car and then we used FP2 as a bit of a test session to try a couple of things.
"We made some changes that seem to go in the right direction [in FP1] and I was reasonably happy with the car. I didn't put together a clean lap with the soft but I’m confident we are in a good place.
“It’s been a long time since we had the opportunity to test, since it’s been two Sprint weekends in a row," he pointed out. "It was good to have time to test and try different approaches on the car, especially having a new package here.
"We wanted to test a couple of items, explore a bit the car set-up, probably went in the wrong direction but we will go back to the FP1 set-up and probably feel stronger again tomorrow.
"Regarding the upgrades, honestly across different circuits you don’t feel them. You just hope they're making you go faster. I think the right moment to evaluate will be at the end of the weekend once everyone has shown all of their cards.
"There's still a bit of work to do before qualifying, but I’m already looking forward to tomorrow."
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