Leclerc fires ominous warning about Red Bull in Spain

Charles Leclerc has warned the Formula 1 field that Red Bull clearly "have the edge" after Spanish Grand Prix Friday practice.

Two-time World Champion Max Verstappen set a blistering pace in Barcelona topping both sessions, comfortably ahead of nearest challenger Fernando Alonso in the afternoon.

Ferrari, running its brand-new upgrades this weekend, was among the teams in the fight for second best - with just 1.1secs separating the top 19 drivers in the second session.

Leclerc's warning

"It has been an interesting day, as we had some new parts to try, so we ran very different programmes between the two cars," Leclerc explained, pointing towards the fact that teammate Carlos Sainz ran the upgrades in FP1.

"It was a productive day as we got through all the tests we wanted to do even if it’s difficult to read where we are in terms of performance right now.

"We will keep pushing to try and make the steps forward that we want in order to be more at ease with the car [for qualifying] and then we will be able to see where we are.

"It’s clear that although Red Bull has the edge over everyone, the rest of the field is very, very tight."

Verstappen also held a significant advantage on race pace simulations over the rest of the field, as the Dutchman looks for a third straight victory and fifth of the season to cement his tag as favourite for a third title.