Charles Leclerc could not go beyond second place in the qualifying session of the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix. After showing good speed in Q1 and Q2, he ended up 0.206s behind Max Verstappen (Red Bull) in the decisive phase.
The Monegasque driver from Ferrari admitted that he was disappointed and that the strategy followed may not have been ideal: ‘I am not very satisfied today, I am a bit disappointed obviously. I think we had the potential to get pole position, unfortunately. In Q1, we went out on track with two new soft tires, I think we could have done something different there and obviously having two new soft tires in Q3 would have helped us to follow the track evolution a bit more. It was difficult for me because I had used tires, then new tires, and when I went out with new tires in Q3, the track had changed, the wind had changed a bit, and I found myself out of place’.
Still, Leclerc highlighted his satisfaction with the car: ‘In the end, it’s the first race of the season, and I’m still happy that the car’s foundation is much stronger than last year’s, and now I’m very interested to see how it will be in tomorrow’s race’.
When asked if he believes he can fight and surpass Verstappen in the race, #16 didn’t seem very confident: ‘I don’t know. I think based on our expectations, we don’t believe we can, but I hope I can show that our expectations are wrong, and I will do everything to prove that they are wrong, but for now, they seem to have some margin – especially in race pace’.
