Formula 1

Leclerc expresses disappointment

Published

3 weeks ago

05/03/2023

Leclerc expresses disappointment Bahrain

Leclerc expressed his disappointment and frustration with the team’s poor performance, which saw him falling one second behind Red Bull’s pace.

Ferrari’s hopes for a strong start to the 2023 Formula 1 season were dashed as Charles Leclerc retired from the Bahrain Grand Prix due to an engine problem.

Charles Leclerc expressed his disappointment with Ferrari’s Bahrain Grand Prix performance, stating that he was unable to identify any silver linings, especially after retiring from the race due to an engine issue. According to Leclerc, he was one second behind Red Bull’s pace, which added to his frustration.

Ferrari approached the winter testing period with a sense of optimism, but as the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend approached, the team became more reserved in its expectations for the season ahead.

During the qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix, both Charles Leclerc and his team-mate Carlos Sainz qualified behind the Red Bulls on row two. While Leclerc managed to take second place from Sergio Perez at the start of the race, he was soon re-passed and eventually fell back before having to retire from third place.

Moreover, Leclerc had to swap to a new energy store, which was the second of only two permitted all season, before the start of the race. Ferrari had placed a significant emphasis on improving reliability during the winter testing period after facing issues in this area during the 2022 season.

When asked about the reliability issue faced during the Bahrain Grand Prix, Leclerc admitted that it was concerning, given the amount of work that had gone into improving reliability during the offseason. He further stated that he received no prior warning of the issue and did not experience any performance loss before the retirement.

When asked whether there were any reliability concerns emerging from Ferrari’s factory and dyno work, Leclerc responded that he was not aware of any such issues.

Apart from the reliability drama, Leclerc is equally concerned about Ferrari’s poor pace during the race. He struggled to keep up with Max Verstappen, losing 0.6-0.8 seconds per lap early on. Meanwhile, his teammate Carlos Sainz also struggled to maintain his podium position and was eventually overtaken by Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and under pressure from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Leclerc commented on Red Bull’s performance, stating that the team seemed to have found something significant in terms of race pace.

Leclerc highlighted that although Ferrari’s qualifying pace was similar to Red Bull’s, there was a significant difference in race pace, with Ferrari falling behind by one second per lap. He emphasized the need for Ferrari to address both the pace and reliability issues.

When asked if Ferrari’s gap to Red Bull was larger than he anticipated, Leclerc revealed that the team had already started suspecting the gap during testing and, therefore, the result was not much of a surprise to them.

Leclerc stated that following the winter testing, Ferrari had hoped their predictions about the gap between them and Red Bull were wrong. Unfortunately, the Bahrain Grand Prix result confirmed their predictions, with Ferrari falling far behind Red Bull in terms of race pace.

Leclerc believed that he could have stayed ahead of Fernando Alonso during the race, and he thinks third place was possible. However, he also acknowledged that the qualifying position of Alonso and his team may have impacted the outcome. Leclerc remained hopeful that the team’s performance could improve in the next race, but he emphasized that they could not solely rely on that possibility.

When asked about his decision to save a set of fresh tires for the race by skipping a final Q3 run, which helped him during the first-lap battle with Perez, Leclerc dismissed the idea of finding any positives from the race.

According to Leclerc, although his decision in qualifying was beneficial, the overall performance was not up to the mark, and the reliability issues marred their weekend. Therefore, it was impossible to identify any positives from the race, given the team’s failure to finish it.

Leclerc expresses disappointment Bahrain Leclerc expresses disappointment Bahrain Leclerc expresses disappointment Bahrain