Leclerc concerned by Ferrari F1 race pace at British GP

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari has to improve its race pace ahead of Sunday's Formula 1 British Grand Prix.

Leclerc’s pace over one lap was promising with the 22-year-old ending second practice fourth overall.

The time-sheets didn’t tell the whole picture though with both Leclerc and Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel complaining of balance issues during the race simulations later in the day.

“We need to work on the race run,’’ Leclerc said. “The balance was extremely hard to drive and very difficult not to make a mistake. We definitely need to change something on that otherwise doing that many laps in the race, with this balance, will be a huge challenge.’’

Ferrari is running considerably skinnier rear wings on its cars this weekend in a bid to remove drag and improve its straight-line speed.

Leclerc admits it may need to re-evaluate its decision to run this level of downforce.

“It wasn’t that bad actually, just the race pace we’ve been struggling massively,’’ Leclerc added. “We definitely need to work on that but the qualifying pace was better than what we expected to be honest.

“This is good. We’ve taken quite a radical approach with our downforce level so it seems to pay off in quali but it doesn’t in the race so we need to analyse and see what we have to do tomorrow.’’

Vettel had a difficult day after suffering a brake pedal issue in FP2, while in FP1 he was unable to complete a timed lap due to an intercooler problem.

The German is hopeful the cooler conditions expected on Saturday will play more into Ferrari’s hands.

“I think the track should be in a different state - it should cool down so let’s see if that really happens and then we are just talking about it.

“I hope that we come up with something but I think on my side a lot will come down naturally overnight and we will have a better day tomorrow.’’