Leclerc thinks Ferrari have to "make some improvements to close the gap" despite encouraging opening day

Despite having finished the first two practice sessions first and second respectively, Ferrari Charles Leclerc admitted that Red Bull seem to be a step ahead in qualifying trim while McLaren appear to be "in a leage of their own" in race trim.

Charles Leclerc looked quick in the opening session at the Mexico City Grand Prix, ssetting the fastest time of all on the softs. The Monegasque went on to end up second in the late afternoon session, just over a tenth of a second behind reigning champion Max Verstappen.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton sat out the opening session as he handed over his car to Ferrari's simulator driver Antonio Fuoco. The Italian completed his first ever FP1 session, having made no mistakes as he kept things clean and concentrated on correlation work between the virtual and the real world.

Despite having missed FP1, Hamilton was not too far adrift. The Briton set the third quickest lap on Pirelli's mediums before ending up ffifth fastest following the qualifying simulation runs.

Speaking of his opening day at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Leclerc said: "I was so happy to see Antonio by my side this morning. We grew up together in the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and to share the garage with him was very special.

"We've been teammates in junior categories before and have great memories together, both on and off the track. To have him in the car during FP1, running different tests and collecting data is valuable for us given his work in the simulator throughout the year. I hope he enjoyed it."

Pushed on to reflect on the competitive order, Leclerc admitted that Red Bull seem to be a step ahead in qualifying trim while McLaren appear to be "in a leage of their own" in race trim.

"We put in some solid laps and I had a good feeling in the car today. Our competitors are strong, so for now it’s not realistic to think we can be ahead of them tomorrow. We will build on our work from today and push to make some improvements to close the gap ahead of qualifying."

“On the high fuel, we were maybe a little bit better compared to Red Bull, but McLaren was in a league of their own, by a lot,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what was going on there. I hope they were on low fuel, but I don’t know. They seemed to be very strong.

“For now, it doesn’t seem realistic for us to be fighting with them in the race, but we are going to try and make changes in order to get closer to them," concluded Leclerc.