Charles Leclerc says Friday's practice times don't tell the "real picture" between Ferrari and Mercedes at the Italian Grand Prix.

The Monegasque led both sessions at Monza but only sat Lewis Hamilton by just 0.068s in the afternoon, much closer than most expected on such a power-dominant circuit.

Furthermore, Leclerc believes the rain which fell in the lull between himself and Hamilton posting their respective times likely had an impact on his lap.

"It is nice to be quickest but I don’t think it is a real picture of everything," he stated.

"We expect Mercedes to be very strong when we will be in the same conditions as they did their fastest lap time in difficult conditions. They are very quick and we need to work tomorrow."

Also Read:

• Vettel: Leclerc performance good for Ferrari in strive for progress
• Leclerc admits first F1 win 'a weight off his shoulders'
• Di Montezemolo: Ferrari close to having two No.1 drivers

As for the performance of his car, Leclerc continued: "It felt good. I think on race pace we are not as fast as we were in Spa but on qualifying pace, we are a bit slower than where we were in Spa so we need to understand.

"It definitely gives us confidence to be fastest and we were fastest even before the end of the [morning] session [in the wet] with intermediate tyres.

"On the dry tyres, it is not representative in FP2 so I’m less confident on that but we will work to be better tomorrow."

Looking ahead to qualifying a key element is expected to be the slipstream as teams potentially try and boost their own drivers by using one to help the other.

"We will see. I need to speak with the team on what is going to happen but I don’t think we will sacrifice any car for the good of the other," Leclerc claimed.

"I think we will try to do the best team job possible and see what happens."

Even teammate Sebastian Vettel played it cool on the topic.

"Yeah, we’ll see," he commented. "Obviously we see the conditions, the tyres, how careful we need to be on the out lap and then go from there.

"It’s nice if you get a tow, not so nice if you don’t, but that’s how it is around here."

Finally, Leclerc couldn't help but be overawed by the reception he has got from the Tifosi at his first Italian GP in red.

"I think it the first time in my whole career that I can see how much they are cheering while I am driving," he revealed.

"At Monaco, I expected it and thought they would be there to support me but here you can see them moving and standing up it is quite crazy and it is amazing to be here."