Charles Leclerc believes qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix will be closer "than what people expect" despite Ferrari's dominance on Friday.

Ferrari led the way in both practice sessions on Friday, with Leclerc leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the first practice before they swapped positions in the latter session.

While Ferrari have won in Monaco on 10 occasions – most recently in 2024 thanks to Leclerc – and are the second-most successful team in the Principality (behind McLaren’s 16 victories), no other constructor has recorded more podium finishes than the Scuderia (58).

Hamilton, however, has not won any of his last 39 races (since the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix), but Leclerc has secured pole position in three of the last five editions of the Monaco Grand Prix (Max Verstappen in 2023, Lando Norris in 2025).

Verstappen finished within 0.168 seconds of Hamilton in second practice, with Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Leclerc was the only Ferrari driver to speak after practice, and he did not get ahead of himself after a positive day.

"Red Bull and Max especially was very close to us in practice two, so I expect them to be very strong," said Leclerc.

"And I expect Mercedes as well to be very close once they put everything together in qualifying. So I think it will be a tight 'quali' and more than what people expect."

Russell, meanwhile, expected Ferrari to be strong, but did not think Mercedes would be as far behind as they were on Friday.

"We expected Ferrari to be the guys to beat," said the British driver.

"A lot of people thought that was just chat, but clearly, they are the team to beat. Red Bull have also been a bit of a surprise for us.

"We are doing everything we can to try and make those improvements. I do think we can close the gap. If we can over-commit, I'm not sure."