Charles Leclerc has left the first day in Belgium with a good feeling. Although his direct rival Max Verstappen managed to set a better time than him in the second free practice session, Leclerc expects that a good weekend may await him.
During the first practice session, Leclerc finished just ahead of the Dutchman, but a few hours later the situation was reversed. The Monegasque saw Verstappen do much better, but he expects to be able to pull something back during the rest of the weekend.
"Overall, it wasn't too bad of a day," Leclerc assessed in conversation with Sky Sports. "We tested quite a few things. Everybody was on a very different programme. So, very difficult to compare coming back from the holiday's but overall the feeling was quite okay."
Leclerc knows what he has to do
Not only did testing take place throughout the sessions, but the drivers also suffered from heavy rainfall on the track. Leclerc and nineteen other drivers had to work hard to keep the car on the track. The situation was therefore not ideal, but Leclerc remains confident.
"We will keep working and try to do a step overnight. We didn't put as much attention for the qualifying pace because it will be useless so we focused on the race pace to come through the field."