A confused Charles Leclerc explained that his Friday afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps proved very challenging – well before his crash at the end of FP2.
After finishing fourth in FP1, the Ferrari driver dropped to 18th in FP2 thanks to a fling at Malmedy with 20 minutes to go that saw his SF21 suffer a crunching impact into the barriers and show a red flag.
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“It was a very difficult day overall I think for everyone because of the conditions but yes we have a night to work on the car to come back stronger tomorrow. Of course I would have preferred not to finish the day at Wall today, but it’s part of free practice and I’ll try not to repeat that mistake, those mistakes later,” he said.
Leclerc added that there was a confusing change in the car’s balance between FP1 and FP2: “[FP1] felt quite good. but [F]P2 didn’t feel good so we have to understand because we haven’t changed much on the car so there’s definitely a lot to understand and hopefully we’ll do a good job.
Leclerc noticed a change in balance from FP1 to FP2 before his crash
“But yes, I am confident that we will be able to do our job well enough to understand what went wrong in FP2 in order to be better tomorrow.”
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As for the conditions – mostly dry but rainy on Friday at Spa – Leclerc said the team’s focus is on finding a dry setup and then adapting to any adverse conditions that might arise on Saturday or Sunday.
“I think it’s going to be like that for the rest of the weekend so we just have to adjust as quickly as we can to try and have a setup that works well in both the dry and the rain and once we achieve that and after that we’re ready for a good weekend,” he added.
Teammate Sainz finished fifth in FP1 and eleventh in FP2 in Belgium on Friday
Team boss Mattia Binotto was unfazed by the damage to Leclerc’s car, adding that the team had plenty of time to repair what at first glance seemed minor to him.
“I think it was a small mistake. I haven’t seen it yet, but yes. It looks like a small mistake,” said Binotto. “I think let’s see [the damage].
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“Obviously some damage to the car but luckily it’s only Friday and we have all night to fix it,” he added.
Teammate Carlos Sainz was fifth behind Leclerc in FP1 and eleventh in FP2. The Monegasque rider wasn’t the only one to crash out of FP2, however, as session leader Max Verstappen ended early Friday afternoon with a shunt in the same spot.
