Charles Leclerc reveals secret to front-row start in Bahrain GP
Contrasting fortunes for Ferrari drivers in qualifying.
Charles Leclerc revealed he has opted for an “extreme direction” with the set-up to extract more speed out of the Ferrari SF-25.
Leclerc put together a brilliant lap at the Sakhir circuit on Saturday, just three tenths down on McLaren’s polesitter Oscar Piastri, to qualify third for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
He will line up on the front row of the grid after Mercedes rival George Russell was penalised for entering the pitlane before the race control issued a restart time in Q2.
Leclerc’s pace in qualifying came as a surprise to many, as Ferrari has usually been the fourth-fastest team in F1 this year.
The Prancing Horse had brought a major upgrade in Bahrain, changing five key areas on the car, but even then teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified almost a second off the pace in ninth.
Leclerc explained that his set-up choice was key to his impressive performance in qualifying, but admitted that such an extreme direction comes with certain trade-offs.
“It was very difficult because I'm running to quite an extreme direction in the last few weekends in terms of set-up,” he told Sky.
“It fits my driving style but also makes it very, very tricky to drive, but it seems that I'm able to extract a bit more out of the car going in that direction.
“So I'll keep going and, race after race, it seems to be getting better and better, so that's a positive sign for the future.
“But it makes it very difficult. Some parts of qualifying, especially with the used tyres, [the car] was just all over the place and it was very difficult to put everything together.
“So yeah that's why I said I had to trust the car when I was putting new tyres that everything will come back and it did, so I'm very happy about this.”
Leclerc will have just Piastri’s McLaren ahead of him on the grid, with both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen having struggled in qualifying on Saturday.
The Monegasque driver said his target is to grab the lead at the start, but highlighted that track position is not so important on an overtake-friendly circuit such as Bahrain.
“To try and get ahead of Oscar. That’s always the target,” said Leclerc.
“It’s a long race. I don't think it's those kind of races where track position out of turn 3 is the main priority.
“Degradation is probably the biggest thing and McLaren seems to be ahead on that for now.
“We've just got to focus on ourselves. If I can gain one or two positions at the start, I'll take it. If not, we'll just have to play the patient game and see where we are.”
