Leclerc 'Miles Ahead' as Verstappen Struggles in Monaco Practice
Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool
MONACO -- Charles Leclerc asserted his dominance at the Monaco Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen acknowledging that the Ferrari driver is already "miles ahead" in the battle for pole position. Verstappen's Red Bull finished Friday practice 0.535 seconds behind Leclerc's Ferrari.
Verstappen, the current championship leader, registered the fourth fastest time overall and expressed skepticism about Red Bull's chances of significant improvement ahead of Saturday's qualifying session.
When asked whether Ferrari's pace is reflective of the true competition, Verstappen was candid: "Ferrari is miles ahead. I'm not even thinking about that. I just want to solve the issues that we have to make it more drivable. Then we'll see where we are. I don't expect miracles."
The Red Bull driver highlighted his car's struggles with the unique challenges of the Monaco street circuit, particularly with the bumps and kerbs.
"I don't think I can describe what is going on. It is very difficult," Verstappen said. "It's not something that I did not expect. But it's at the higher end of the worst possible outcome of the weekend so far. Difficult. Every time we go over [the bumps and kerbs], we lose a lot of lap time because the car doesn't ride well. It is hampering us, at the moment, to go faster."
Drawing comparisons to last week's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, where overnight setup changes significantly improved his performance, Verstappen was less optimistic about a similar turnaround in Monaco.
"Imola was completely different. Different issues that we could solve with set-up. These issues we cannot solve with set-up because it's how the car is made and designed. These things you cannot change overnight. We are stuck with it. We will try, but I don't expect miracles."
In contrast, Leclerc was buoyant following his strong showing in Friday practice, hinting that he still has more to offer.
"It's important to keep this rhythm into final practice [ahead of qualifying]," Leclerc remarked. "The way Monaco is, I might have taken more risk compared the others today, which paid off."
Leclerc remained focused on delivering a perfect lap during Saturday's qualifying.
"But it's about tomorrow when everybody starts to go on the limit. Until now, we have done a really good job. We need to keep working, keep focusing on ourselves. There is more pace in me just putting everything together. Look at my sectors, there was a quite a bit of lap time in there. That is the focus for tomorrow. The performance and feeling is there."
As the weekend progresses, all eyes will be on this intense intra-team battle leading up to the iconic race on the streets of Monaco.
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