Charles Leclerc was left ruing a relatively minor mistake midway through second practice, one that spat him off the track at Malmedy and in the wall, triggering the first of the afternoon’s two red flag stoppages.<\/p>\n
The incident curtailed his session and meant he was classified in 18th place having completed just 13 laps while the track was still damp in places from an earlier downpour.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s been a very tricky day overall, I think for everyone, because of the conditions,” the Monegasque driver said afterwards. <\/p>\n
“Obviously I would have preferred to not end the day in the wall today, but it\u2019s part of free practice and I\u2019ll try not to re-do this mistake – these mistakes – later on.”<\/p>\n
Leclerc suggested that there had been a confusing change in the car’s balance between the first and second hour-long practice sessions.<\/p>\n
“[FP1] felt quite good. But [FP2] didn\u2019t feel great, so we need to understand,” he acknowledged. “We didn\u2019t change much on the car so there\u2019s definitely plenty to understand and hopefully we\u2019ll do a good enough job.<\/p>\n
“But I’m confident that we will be able to do a good enough job to understand what went wrong in FP2 to be better tomorrow,” he continued. “Tomorrow and Sunday will be the days that count.<\/p>\n
“I was reasonably happy with the car balance but the performance is not where we expected it to be.”<\/p>\n
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said that he didn’t expect the damage to Leclerc’s car from the accident to be a major problem.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“It was a small mistake,” he said. “I haven\u2019t seen it yet, but yes. It looks like a small mistake.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, a [bit of] damages on the car but luckily it\u2019s only Friday and we\u2019ve got the entire night to repair,” he added. <\/p>\n
With Leclerc sidelines, the pace of his team mate Carlos Sainz who was fifth fastest in the morning ans 12th quickest in FP2 may be a better indicator of Ferrati’s form going into this weekend’s race.<\/p>\n
“Today I enjoyed myself. In terms of performance, however, we didn\u2019t have the best of Fridays,” he conceded. “We couldn\u2019t complete a proper long run in FP2 and the short runs were also tricky with the balance of the car. <\/p>\n
“We have a bit of homework to do overnight, but I\u2019m confident we can improve and be in a better place tomorrow.<\/p>\n
“The weather looks uncertain for Saturday and Sunday. The rain can appear anytime, as we saw today with Formula 3 qualifying, so we\u2019ll be prepared for any conditions.”<\/p>\n
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers<\/p>\n