Charles Leclerc admitted he has “more pace” to extract from himself despite topping second practice for this weekend’s Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix by almost two-tenths of a second.
The Monegasque commenced his sixth F1 outing on an encouraging note as he led the second practice session with almost two-tenths in hand over his closest rival.
But while he appears a good bet to chase a third pole position on home soil, Leclerc admitted he still has pace left to extract as he builds towards Saturday’s all-important qualifying session.
“I think there’s just more pace in me, just putting everything together, if you look at my three sectors there was quite a bit of lap time in them when you put all of it together, so that will be the main focus for tomorrow, but let’s say that performance and feeling is there,” he said (via Sky Sports F1).
Leclerc finished an impressive fifth in opening practice on the medium tyre ahead of his table-topping performance in FP2 on the soft, but the Monegasque driver spoke of how critical it was to maintain his form on Saturday.
“I think on the medium we were really strong, on the soft we struggled to put everything together, there was a lot of traffic all the way, but all in all we have a good car for the moment,” he said.
“I felt quite confident with the car, however, it’s super important that we keep this rhythm in FP3 because it’s the way Monaco is, I might have taken a bit more risk compared to the others today which paid off, however, it’s all about tomorrow in Qualifying when everybody starts to go on the limit.
“Until now I think we’ve done a really, really good job, but we need to keep working, keep focusing on ourselves, but it’s a positive first day.”
A surprise challenger in the form of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton emerged on Friday with the Briton fastest in FP1 and second in FP2.
This came as no surprise to Leclerc however, with the Monegasque speaking on how “anything is possible” around Monaco and he spoke from experience, given he wrought a pole lap from the uncompetitive 2021 Ferrari three years ago.
“Mercedes that has been struggling since the beginning of the season, they are very fast this weekend, so we expect them to be just the same tomorrow, Lewis has been on it all day,” he said.
“So yeah we’ve got to maximise everything tomorrow and hopefully we’ll put it on pole.”
Despite pole being an almost 99% guarantee for victory around the tight, convoluted streets of the Monaco circuit, Leclerc has sadly fell victim to rotten luck at his home circuit.
Having started from pole twice, Leclerc has only come away with a best result of fourth at the one venue he wants to win at more than any other, so he’s not counting his chickens just yet, despite looking in fine fettle thus far.
“If we manage to [get pole position], which is the best starting place for Sunday, we’ll have to focus well on Sunday in order to put everything together and to finally get that win,” he said.
With Red Bull struggling and Leclerc’s team-mate Carlos Sainz more than half a second off of his pace, this could finally be the year the home hero gets his long-awaited Monaco victory.
