Charles Leclerc reflects on Bahrain GP recovery after 'everything went wrong'

At the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, it looked like all hope was lost for Ferrari as they began the race on slick tyres and plummeted down the order.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both found themselves outside of the points and on the wrong tyres as the intermediate runners were breaking away at the front.

In Leclerc’s case, he made the early call at the end of Lap 3 to enter the pits and switch to intermediate tyres, a decision which put him at the back of the field.

However, the Monegasque driver found himself climbing through the order and back with the other intermediate runners when the Safety Car neutralised the race on Lap 6.

From this point on, Leclerc was on the correct strategy and continued to fight his way through to the field until the chequered flag, where he claimed fourth place, behind his teammate who was in third.

“We were where we kind of would have hoped to finish,” Leclerc explained after the Grand Prix. 

“Kimi and Max were just too strong for us today. And we were right after, and we finished P3, P4, but a bit of a strange race. 

“I think everything that could have gone wrong at the first part of the race went wrong, and everything that could have gone right in the second part of the race went right. 

“So, at the end of the day, kind of balanced, both extremes balanced each other out, and we are finishing where we should have finished. But it's been a bit more of a sweaty race than what I would have hoped.”

Leclerc was asked whether Ferrari had made the wrong call by putting both drivers on slick tyres, and whether they should have run a split strategy due to the conditions.

However, he pointed out that running a split strategy means ‘there’s one very wrong choice and one very good choice’ that would have separated the Ferrari drivers for the Grand Prix.

He explained, “I was aligned with the team. I think it was a close call, as it always is in these conditions.

“And, yeah, we'll speak whether to split the cars in those conditions is the best possible way, but it's also true that when you split the cars, by definition, there's one very wrong choice and one very good choice. 

“And it's very difficult to have an in-between scenario where both scenarios kind of pan out the same. 

“So, we thought we were doing the right thing, obviously, but clearly, there's one team in particular, and that is Red Bull, that gets it right most of the time with both cars, and for that, we need to understand what they are doing better than we do.”