Charles Leclerc delivers worrying prediction about F1 rival after Mexico practice

Charles Leclerc believes McLaren could be "in a league of its own" in Mexico, despite a promising Friday for the Scuderia.

Leclerc finished both sessions in the top three and placed second in FP2, about a tenth-and-a-half down on pace-setter Max Verstappen.

However, Verstappen himself was wary of the pace the McLaren drivers showed on the long-run simulations, with Leclerc hopeful Ferrari improvements could see it fight with Red Bull, but not McLaren.

"Friday was a positive one, we are still on the back foot compared to Red Bull, especially on low fuel, and McLaren, there are no surprises there," Leclerc reflected.

"We expected them to be the strongest team coming here, but we've done pretty good laps, I feel quite good with the car, so we've just got to build on that, and hopefully, we can gain a little bit more performance.

"The high fuel, we were maybe a little better compared to Red Bull, but McLaren was in a league of their own, but by a lot. 

"So I don't know exactly what is going on there, I hope they were on low fuel, but I don't know, they seem to be very strong.

"So for now, it doesn't seem to be realistic for us to be fighting with them in the race, but we are going to try and make changes to be closer to them."