McLaren handed sobering 'on another planet' verdict by F1 rival

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc believes McLaren is "on another planet" with the pace it showed in Bahrain Grand Prix practice.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri traded the fastest times in the two sessions on Friday, with Piastri topping the more representative FP2 by a tenth-and-a-half from Norris, with Leclerc about half-a-second back in the upgraded Ferrari. 

The MCL39 machine was tipped to be a strong contender in Bahrain owing to McLaren's ability to preserve its tyres, something which is key at the abrasive and traction-heavy Sakhir circuit. 

Reflecting on the day's running in the heavily-upgraded Ferrari, Leclerc felt McLaren was still out of reach. 

"I'm trying to push in a direction that allows me to extract a bit more out of the car, but to be honest, the potential of the car remains the same and we're just not fast enough," Leclerc explained.

"When we look at the McLaren, they are just on another planet for now and it is annoying, but it is the way it is, and actually motivates me to close that gap as soon as possible, but they are incredibly fast.

"It was a tricky session because it is so much warmer than at the test, and you go into the session expecting the grip you had but it is completely different, so we've got to re-adjust the car. 

"[The upgrades] worked, so that is positive, but unfortunately, the gap to McLaren is still huge.

 They did. They did. So that's positive, but unfortunately, the gap to McLaren is still
too big but we've got to maximise the car potential that we have for now.

"If that means finishing fourth, third, of fifth, then we'll have to take it and hope at one point we'll be back being the fastest car on track. 

"We are there with Mercedes, but it is a bit more difficult with Red Bull, Max is probably a little bit in front, but we've got to wait and see.

"There is still some performance to be found on our side in maximising the car, the upgrades and we'll see what that leads us."