Leclerc has 'clear vision' after 'horrendous' early Spanish show

Charles Leclerc has dismissed concerns he faces a tricky Spanish Grand Prix weekend after initially describing his Ferrari in first practice as "horrendous".

Leclerc was left languishing in 11th position after FP1, 1.2s behind pacesetter Lando Norris in his McLaren, and over eight-tenths adrift of team-mate Carlos Sainz who finished third quickest.

Leclerc has revealed a trio of reasons as to why he was off the pace in his SF-24.

"It was a difficult FP1 for everybody, first of all because of the conditions - extremely warm - so this makes those cars very difficult to drive with overheating," he said.

"Secondly, I think we were a bit out of place with the balance, and third, I didn't have the upgrade at first because we wanted to compare cars, so all in all, it was quite a difficult session on my side.

"FP2 I found the feeling again, and in the end I put everything together. There's still quite a bit of pace to find, but I know where to find the lap time, so I'm not too worried [for Saturday]."

The upgrade referred to by Leclerc is a significant one, and the second such package in four grands prix as it attempts to hunt down Red Bull.

In FP2, Leclerc recovered to finish sixth on the timesheet, 0.333s behind Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who pipped home hero Sainz by only 0.022s.

Either side of the soft-tyre run in the session, the medium-compound longer run was also assessed, and again Leclerc has revealed that did not go to plan either due to "a small problem".

Nevertherless, he is confident for qualifying. "It's just a set-up change that took a bit longer just because it happens sometimes so we lost laps," he said.

"I didn't do the long run that I should have done in FP2. The few laps we have done, there is still plenty to improve.

"I have a very clear vision on what we need to do on the car to make it better, and I'm confident tomorrow will be a step forward."