Charles Leclerc behind only Max Verstappen but has no illusions

A nearly perfect first day for Charles Leclerc in the Mexican Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver, in fact, finished first in the first free practice session, while in the second he surrendered only to Max Verstappen, who beat him by only 153 thousandths.

The Monegasque shared the track with his friend Antonio Fuoco, who replaced Lewis Hamilton in the first free practice session:“I was really happy to have Antonio by my side this morning. We grew up together in the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and sharing the pit box with him was very special. We have already been teammates in the youth categories and have good memories together, both on and off the track”.

“It was very useful to have him in the car in FP1 to carry out various tests and collect data– added Leclerc in words reported by ‘FormulaPassion’ -, considering the valuable work he carries out all year long in the simulator. I hope he had a good time”.

“We managed to put together some interesting laps, and overall I got some good feelings from the car. Our rivals are strong, though, so right now it doesn&#8217t seem realistic to be able to stay ahead of them tomorrow. We will build on the work done today and try to make some improvements to reduce the gap ahead of qualifying” Leclerc concluded.