Oscar Piastri admitted he had a “very messy” start to the Monaco Grand Prix weekend after crashing in practice.
Having been fifth-quickest in the opening practice session, Piastri ended the day second-fastest.However he was surprised to see Charles Leclerc at the top of the times. Ferrari’s pace over a single flying lap has been a notable weakness of theirs this year – neither of its drivers reached Q3 at Imola last week.
“I think clearly Ferrari are looking a lot stronger here than they have done,” Piastri told the official F1 channel after practice.
The world championship leader lost time during the second session when he skidded in a barrier at Sainte Devote. He damaged his car’s front wing but was able to continue in the session after returning to the pits.
He ended up almost three tenths of a second faster than Lando Norris, his closest rival in the championship, but believes there is still more to come from their car.
“It was tricky,” said Piastri. “I think just the whole day has been a bit up-and-down.
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“When we get everything together the pace is quite good. It’s just not proving that easy to do at the moment. So there’s some things to look at.
“I think especially for myself it’s been a very messy day. So I’ll try and reset a bit tomorrow because I think the pace in the car is there.”
Norris found it “difficult to get some clean laps at times” during the session. “I felt comfortable from the beginning but I need to progress more in some areas,” he said.
McLaren need to find small improvements in many areas after Friday, said Norris. “We’re talking small things, it’s not huge, but when you’re talking about hundredths here and there, it is a lot of small things that add up.
“But it’s just difficult to get the braking right, to get cornering right, to get tyres, the grip, the feeling, all in the perfect window.”
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