Leclerc hopes to "unlock" more performance in qualifying

Having displayed a promising performance on the opening day of the Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that he hopes the Scuderia will be able to unlock more pace from its SF-25 in qualifying.

On the back of an impressive showing at last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari arrived at Barcelona with low expectation given the layout of the track.

However, the Scuderia impressed in the opening practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc took third and fourth.

The second practice saw the Ferrari pair struggle to stay at the sharp end of the field, with Leclerc ending up in P4 over half a second behind pace-setter Oscar Piastri. His team-mate Hamilton struggled even more over a single flying lap, and the seven-time world champion was left in P11.

Reflecting on the opening day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Leclerc revealed that his day was more positive than what he had expected ahead of the weekend.

"It’s very hot on track, which makes things a bit trickier, with the grip not being as good as we’d like it to be. However, it has been a more positive day than we had expected, there is more performance in the car and I hope we will unlock some more ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying.

"There’s still quite a bit of work ahead of us, but we don’t seem to be too far off, so we will focus on a few key areas this evening to extract what we can.

Pushed on whether Ferrari will be able to fight for top positions, Leclerc noted: “Yeah, there is still quite a bit of work to be done, but I don’t think that we are too far out. We’ll focus on a few areas tonight, and let’s see tomorrow.”