Asked whether the increased level of performance seen before his crash was a sign that the updates being made to the car this weekend were working, Leclerc played down expectations but sounded a note of optimism.
“I wouldn’t get carried away too quickly, but the feeling is good,” he admitted. “I think we are still quite a bit behind McLaren, who seem to be very strong this weekend. However, as I said, the feeling is good and that is always a good sign. Now we need to put it all together tomorrow and I hope we do.”
HIGHLIGHTS: Enjoy the action from FP2 from the Hungaroring as Norris goes quickest for McLaren while Leclerc crashes
Although Leclerc was forced to watch much of FP2 from the sidelines, Sainz finished the session in third place. After a poor run of form for the Scuderia of late, the Spaniard was pleased with his Friday in Hungary.
“We’ve definitely had a better day than the last three weekends,” he said after the session. “We still have to understand if it’s due to the upgrades that have given better performance, as we were trying to do, or also to the characteristics of the track, which could perhaps suit our car a bit better.”
“But yes, we seem to be a bit more competitive. When you look a bit more in detail at the long runs, you can see that we are still not exactly the fastest, and Red Bull and McLaren are still a step ahead, but at least on one lap we seem to be a bit closer to catching them.”
