“These are early days and everyone is hiding their true form”: Charles Leclerc insists that Ferrari’s strong pace in the Barcelona pre-season testing does not mean much

Ferrari were the fastest car for the majority of day-1 of pre-season testing in Barcelona but Charles Leclerc insists it means nothing. 

A new season of F1 racing is just around the corner and teams are taking their new machinery out onto the tracks to try them out at testing. This year, we have two pre-season testing events taking place.

The first one started on 23rd February at the Circuit de Catalunya and will go on till the 25th. A similar test will be carried out just over a week before the first race of the season at the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain on 10th March.

On the first day of running in Barcelona, Ferrari topped the timing charts for the majority of the day. Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz put in promising lap-times around the track, and were consistently ahead of the others.

McLaren driver Lando Norris found pace towards the closing stages of Day-1 and edged Leclerc to take P1 for the day. Sainz meanwhile finished third behind Norris and his teammate.

However, Leclerc downplayed suggestions that stated that Ferrari have the best car this year. The Monegasque driver insists that all 10 teams won’t showcase their true form until the Bahrain testing, or even until the season starts.

Also read: Sebastian Vettel makes it clear that he won’t race at the Russian GP following the country’s invasion of Ukraine

It’s not possible to have a clear picture yet, says Charles Leclerc

After the first day of testing in Barcelona, Leclerc shared his thoughts on the F1-75 and the initial performances of his car. He admits that even though they felt good on track, there’s a lot of work left to be done.

“It was the first time that we could really push in our new car. And it felt really good to be back behind the wheel,” said Leclerc.

“We completed all the tests we wanted to and ran through our full programme smoothly, which is good for a new car. I’m looking forward to being back on track again tomorrow.”

“The initial feeling is not bad, but we shouldn’t get carried away by the timesheets today. These are early days and everyone is still hiding their true form.”

“It’s impossible to have a clear picture just yet. So we have to stay focused and keep working hard. We put in a lot of laps, more than any other team today. And that’s a positive we will build on,” the 24-year old concluded.

Also read: McLaren’s Lando Norris looks back on a strong first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona