Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz sounded a cautiously optimistic note for the rest of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend after an encouraging showing on Friday. Technical problems essentially cancelled FP1, meaning FP2 represented the day's only serious running. Sainz ended the session in third, and Leclerc fifth, with both drivers within 0.3s of table-topping Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari have endured a difficult start to 2023, with just one podium finish across the first seven races as both Leclerc and Sainz have regularly suffered with tyre degradation on the SF-23. But despite Ferrari not bringing any significant updates from the last round in Spain, where the Scuderia had struggled, Leclerc noted that his Friday in Montreal was among the best practice sessions he had experienced so far in 2023. "In terms of feeling, it's among the [better] Fridays for us," Leclerc told F1TV . "Really good feeling with the car, so that's positive, and tomorrow will be a completely new day. "We didn't do any significant change [from the last race in Spain]. We are obviously learning this package more and more and so we are optimising it, and it was a good day because everything we've done to the car went in the right direction. "[Long runs were] really good, so that's positive, but it's only Friday, so we need to wait and see, but the feeling was good, pace looks really good, and now we just need to have a clean qualifying in very tricky conditions, and see what's possible on Sunday."
Sainz still "not 100 percent with the car"
For his part, Sainz said he felt a few issues still needed to be ironed out, but added that the team had started to get to the bottom of them. "Not having that hour or two in between sessions to learn from the car and do a few setup changes is a limitation, but we had a decent Friday," said Sainz. "Still not feeling 100 percent at home with the car, especially under braking I was struggling quite a bit today, which we start to understand now, and we will try to make some changes for tomorrow. "[Brakes] is the most important, and I felt like today we didn't get it right with a couple of settings, and we'll try and get them better for [Saturday] and I'm sure we will be more competitive. "[Soft tyre running] looked quick, but wasn't easy. It was jumping around a lot in curbs and bumps. The pace and the performance was there, but it was not an easy lap. "It's going to be a challenging day [on Saturday], and it will be all about making no mistakes and getting through."
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