Charles Leclerc finished P3 in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, a result of the work Ferrari has done to exploit the SF-25’s traits, which will yield more lap time next week in Jeddah.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect P3,” said Leclerc adfter qualifying during the post session interviews on the grid.
“I knew that in Q3 there was some lap time. I knew that in Q1 and Q2 I just had to be patient and wait for the track to come towards me in Q3. Which was a bit tricky because at the beginning of Q3 everything felt really bad with the old tyres but then as soon as we put the new tyres it was quite a bit better so I’m happy.”
Given the dominant pace McLaren drivers wielded in the Practice sessions leading up to Qualifying, Leclerc “did not expect it [P3], but I think it’s a result of [how] we explored quite a lot of extreme setups in the last few weekends and it felt like I found my way a little bit, and little by little I hope there will be more performance to extract from this car in the weekends to come.”
The upgrades will give Ferrari more lap time in Jeddah
So have the upgrades performed the way Ferrari hoped? Leclerc’s P3 certainly indicates as much.
“Yes, definitely. The team has pushed like crazy to try and bring those upgrades here. I don’t think it’s the best track to have these upgrades on, but it’s always good. It’s a small gain, but it’s not a big one. But hopefully next week it will be a bit more of a step. But again, I think if we are P3 today, especially considering such fine margins with P4, the upgrades helped.”
