Charles Leclerc issues McLaren u-turn warning after practice shocker

Charles Leclerc has warned he expects "another world" McLaren to bounce back from its practice shocker at the Azerbaijan GP heading into qualifying.

After topping FP1 with a one-two ahead of Leclerc in third, Lando Norris hit the wall in FP2, losing almost half the session, whilst Oscar Piastri also suffered a wall-strike and was only 12th, two places behind Norris.

It is the first time in FP2 all season a McLaren has not finished in the top three, as Ferrari claimed its first one-two of the season in FP2 with Lewis Hamilton pipping Leclerc to top spot.

However, despite the strong performance of the SF-25 and his own prowess in Baku qualifying, taking the last four grand prix poles, Leclerc still believes McLaren are favourites to land the best grid spots.

"I think there is a lot more potential, especially from me. I didn't do a great job," Leclerc said.

"But overall, we look to be pretty strong, but and it is a big but, it looks like McLaren is in another world, literally.

"I think people will be very surprised [in qualifying] because Lando didn't finish some laps that were very, very impressive, so I doubt we will be in the fight with them. 

"But compared to the others, it seems that we are in a good place. I don't think there will be a battle for the win, but never say never.

"In 2021 and in many qualifyings here, I felt like it wasn't possible, but in the end, we made it, so I'll keep my hopes high, but it looks unlikely."