Charles Leclerc in agreement with Fernando Alonso over new Spanish GP circuit

Charles Leclerc has agreed with Fernando Alonso's assessment of the new Spanish Grand Prix track in that it will heavily favour qualifying, with overtaking likely to be incredibly difficult in Sunday's race.

On initial inspection following Friday's two practice sessions, the 22-corner circuit situated in the north-east of the Spanish capital, Madrid, is incredibly challenging for the drivers.

What was also evident is that there appear to be precious few overtaking opportunities, ensuring qualifying and a good grid slot will be paramount.

Ferrari at least appeared to be on the pace, with Leclerc and team-mate Lewis Hamilton second and third quickest, both just over a tenth of a second adrift of Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes.

Prior to practice, Leclerc described the circuit as "very challenging", albeit one he enjoys as a driver.

On the downside, he added: "I think come Sunday, the amount of overtaking opportunities will be very little.

"In qualifying, it will be a very cool and challenging track for all drivers. And for that I'm looking forward to it."

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Leclerc reveals priority shift

Assessing Alonso's comment that qualifying will be better than the race, Leclerc added: "It's the kind of weekend where you want to focus more on the qualifying pace than on the race pace.

"Come Sunday, I feel like it's going to be difficult, apart from at the start, to gain positions.

"For sure, our priority will be to try and maximise practice to make sure that in Q3 we end up with the right car and with a good lap.

"So yeah, the priority will be shifted a little bit more towards qualifying. I still think the race can be interesting with the strategy, but maybe the overtaking will be a bit less than at other tracks."