Charles Leclerc expects a tight battle for pole position in Monaco Grand Prix qualifying, despite Ferrari's strong start to the weekend in Friday practice.
Leclerc topped first practice ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton before the seven-time world champion set the fastest time of the day -- a 1:13.026 -- in second practice.
Expectations were high around the Italian team ahead of the weekend, with the tight confines of the street circuit playing to the strengths of its car and masking some of its weaknesses.
Max Verstappen was the fastest non-Ferrari driver on Friday -- 0.168 seconds off the fastest time -- with the Red Bull driver seemingly losing time under acceleration out of slow corners compared to Hamilton's best lap.
Leclerc, who complained about issues under braking during practice, thinks Verstappen and championship leaders Mercedes will also be in the mix for pole position on Saturday afternoon.
"Red Bull and Max especially were very close to us in FP2, especially," Leclerc said.
"I expect them to be very strong, I expect Mercedes as well, once they put everything together in qualifying, to be very close.
"So I think it is going to be a very tight qualifying and more than what people expect."
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Team principal Fred Vasseur played down suggestions Ferrari were the clear favourites after Friday practice.
"No, I don't care about this kind of approach or rumours -- we have to do the job," Vasseur said. "It's a very long way in Monaco from Friday first to the qualifying and then to the race.
"The most difficult is that you have to anticipate the evolution of the track, the evolution of the grip, and you have to always be one session ahead, and this is a real challenge for the team and for the drivers. It means that it's still a long way, and we'll see tomorrow evening about the real pace."
Although much of the hype around Ferrari's performance this weekend has been based on the characteristics of its power unit, Mercedes driver George Russell, who was fourth fastest on Friday, believes it is also linked to inherent strengths carried over from previous years.
"The trends that we see with Ferrari every year here and on street tracks and what we've seen today have been there for probably 10 years, to be honest," Russell said.
"I think every car has an inherent DNA, and their inherent DNA, especially on the mechanical side of the car, clearly works on these street tracks, especially when there's a lot of warp in the corners, the corners dropping away. We're doing everything we can to try and make those improvements.
"I do think we can close the gap, but if we can overcome it, I'm not sure."