Asked if he felt like he was on the pace from the first lap, as per Austin, Sainz replied: “Yeah, I think it’s a good way to put it. We hit the ground running in FP1 with a good car, good set-up, then all FP1 and FP2 we just worked in fine-tuning a couple of things.
“Nothing major, so yeah, I’m quite happy with how everything feels. Especially the long runs feel good. I think when it comes to qualifying we’ll have a lot of challenge from our competitors, and over one lap it will be a tight battle.”
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Pushed on that longer run pace, he added: “[It was] very good. I was very comfortable with the car, comfortable with the deg, and that’s positive going into Sunday, although here race pace is less important than Austin because it’s more difficult to overtake.”
Leclerc echoed Sainz’s feelings after taking over from Bearman, who was involved in an incident with Williams racer Alex Albon in first practice and sustained damage to the front-left corner of the Ferrari.
