The Ferrari drivers were pleased to discover more competitive performance from their car than they expected on the first day of practice in Monaco.

Charles Leclerc headed both practice sessions at his home track on Friday. His best effort, a 1’11.355, left him 0.038 seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri and a tenth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the other Ferrari.

Before the weekend began, Leclerc talked down Ferrari’s chances of being in the hunt for victory at a track where qualifying position is critical. Neither he nor Hamilton reached Q3 at Imola last week.

Although Leclerc said today’s performance has not persuaded him one way or another about their form, he conceded they appear to be in good shape.

“The one-lap pace was strong,” he told the official F1 channel. “Whatever compound we were on I was feeling quite comfortable and the lap time was coming pretty quickly so that’s always a good sign as qualifying is going to be fundamental around here and we’ve got to be starting in front if we want to hope for a good result.”

The second practice session was interrupted by two red flags and many drivers had laps compromised due to traffic. Leclerc is therefore particularly hesitant to draw conclusions based on their position after Friday’s running.

“Friday in Monaco is always very special, very specific,” he said. “I think everybody is taking a bit their reference, so it’s too early to feel very positive about the weekend.

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“But let’s just say that the Friday has been very positive for us. I’ve been feeling pretty good with the car. It didn’t start the way I wanted with the crash with Lance [Stroll] but after that it’s been pretty smooth and I’m happy overall with the car.”

Hamilton said the first session “was a little bit of a challenge with traffic and everything” but the second was “much better.”

“I’ve got a little bit of time to find,” he added, “Charles is very quick, but otherwise a good session.”

He believes he can find more lap time from himself than the car. “In the [lap] time, I’d say there’s more to find in my driving, in lines, in braking,” he said. “I’ve got one tenth, for example, just in turn one.

“There’s bits here and there throughout the lap. But then the car, there are the subtle changes that they need to make.

“I will not be making many changes at all. We might change one small thing like a tiny quarter of a degree of camber or something like that, but maximum I think that would be it.”

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