Charles Leclerc ‘has to step it up’ to beat in-form Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz

Charles Leclerc has been told he needs to “step it up” to beat in-form Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz at this weekend’s F1 Japanese Grand Prix.

Sainz staged an impressive recovery on his return to action from an appendectomy to beat Leclerc to victory at the Australian Grand Prix last time out, having capitalised on Max Verstappen’s rare DNF.

Despite missing a race, Sainz, who is without a drive for next year, is just 11 points behind championship leader Verstappen, and only seven behind his teammate.

Sainz was once again the quicker of the two Ferrari drivers during Friday practice at Suzuka as he finished third, 0.213s off the pace.

“Last year Carlos was quicker [than Charles] in qualifying and the race,” former F1 strategist Bernie Collins said during Sky’s coverage.

“This track is not about qualifying. But if you’re ahead of your teammate, you get better strategy decisions and cleaner air.

“Charles really has to step it up, in order to beat Carlos this weekend.”

1996 world champion Damon Hill added: “Charles has really got to bounce back. Because Carlos has come into the season strong.

“Also, the recovery story from his appendicitis will endure for a long time. It will go down in legend, this incredible comeback. Also, a competitive drive from him all weekend.

“Now we’re at the point with Ferrari where we expect them to be competitive. So it’s not so exciting that they are competitive.

“They will want to be beating Red Bull on even terms. They do not want to win a race with Red Bull DNF’ing.”

Leclerc, who was sixth-fastest in FP1, admitted Ferrari still have “a lot of questions to answer” and “things to fix” before qualifying.

“There is still plenty to learn,” he said. “We still have things to try. We have P3 tomorrow if there is no rain. There, we will be able to test the things that were still on hold.

“FP1, you do the first run and then the track is very slippery so you can’t learn anything. You go onto the softs but we had only one or two laps.

“Very little running. There are a lot of questions to answer, and things to fix before qualifying.”

Sainz was surprised by how close he got to the Red Bulls but admitted they will be “difficult to beat” this weekend.

“We were closer to the Red Bulls than I anticipated or expected,” he said. “So, positive signs in terms of progress made from five months ago until now.

“Last year we were eight tenths off in qualy. Here, to be two tenths off in FP1, is a good feeling and a good starting base. But they will be difficult to beat.”