Leclerc: This could be a good opportunity for us

Fighting the dual difficulties of a freshly-resurfaced track and autumn-time temperatures, practice at the Istanbul circuit on Friday saw drivers up-and-down the Formula 1 grid struggle for grip, with several expressing their displeasure afterwards.

However Leclerc, who finished 0.4 seconds behind FP2 leader Max Verstappen, suggested the slippery surface one was not a problem, but an opportunity.

“At first I was not very convinced by the grip level of the track and thought this was going to be a very bad day, but after a few laps I actually really enjoyed it," he said after FP2. "It was a lot of fun to have such low grip. It felt like driving on ice!

"Seriously though, it’s not great to have a Friday like this as you don’t learn much, but in terms of driving it was good fun and we were competitive too. I don’t know how much track conditions will improve throughout the weekend so it’s good that we’ve done quite a lot of mileage today to understand the conditions and hopefully we can maximize the result tomorrow.

"The weather forecast doesn’t look great for tomorrow so I don’t know how things could be in the rain, it could be a very tricky day, but if we do everything perfectly, this could be a good opportunity for us.”

Currently fifth in the driver's championship on 85 points, Leclerc's Ferrari has underperformed all season, with only two podiums compared to the two victories, seven poles and ten podiums taken in 2019. Should conditions indeed stay the same as he suggests, it could be a rare opportunity to achieve another large points haul for the Scuderia.