Charles Leclerc doesn’t expect his strong practice pace to translate into a pole position challenge despite topping FP2 at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.
Leclerc headed an unusual top 10 in Budapest, pipping McLaren’s Lando Norris by just 0.015s and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly by 0.232s. AlphaTauri, Haas and Alfa Romeo were also represented on the top half of the time sheet.
Meanwhile Max Verstappen was 11th, and both Mercedes drivers were locked in the bottom five.
The unpredictability of the order meant Leclerc, the only non-Red Bull Racing driver to score a pole position this year, was skeptical about Ferrari’s place at the front of the field.
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The Monegasque pointed to different approaches to the experimental reduced tire allocations this weekend as the main factor shrouding the true competitive picture, and said he anticipated the usual leaders to rise to the front come qualifying.
“It’s very difficult to read into today’s free practice,” Leclerc said. “I think it’s something we expected, being the first weekend on this format with this tire allocation. Everyone’s trying different things.
“[Red Bull Racing] only used one set I think in FP2, so we still expect them to be the strongest team. But it’s nice because I think we’ll go into qualifying not really knowing where we are, and I’m sure that’s exciting.
“The feeling was pretty good, so this is positive.”
Leclerc said Ferrari has work to do to make the SF-23 more competitive before the grid-setting session, with the track’s faster corners proving particularly troublesome.
Though Ferrari was able to build an advantage down the straights, almost all that time was washed away through the track’s quicker corners in the second sector. But the five-time race winner is optimistic the team can consolidate overnight enough to keep it in podium contention come Sunday.
“I think we just have to focus on ourselves,” he said. “We know where we need to improve the car, as there were some corners where I wasn’t as confident.
“It’s very clear for us where we need to work, and then we’ll see tomorrow. But I’m sure we can do a great result here.”
Carlos Sainz, who was 10th in the order and 0.496s slower than his teammate, said he expected a close battle at the front of the field after rafts of upgrades were brought by several teams in recent rounds.
“The gaps are going to be close,” he said. “Since the last couple for races we’ve seen everyone has converged a lot in development and performance, so I think it’s going to be a tough weekend for everyone out there just putting laps together, especially on such a tricky track.
“In the race everyone’s going to be on similar race pace.”
Sainz is aiming for a top-four start for the race, from where the podium would be in sight.
“I think the first two rows is where we target to be as a team,” he said. It’s going to be a tough ask, but if we put everything together, we should be capable.”