The Monegasque was 0.123 seconds ahead of world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull in qualifying on Saturday. Carlos Sainz, the second Ferrari driver, came in third just behind Verstappen. Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull was fourth, Vice World Champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes is fifth in the Grand Prix on Sunday (start 4 p.m. CET / live ORF, Sky).
Leclerc got the tenth “pole” of his career in the floodlights, the second on the desert course in Sakhir after 2019. In the final training session, Verstappen had confirmed the impressions from the previous training sessions as the fastest. Leclerc ended up in second place and showed for his part that Ferrari has currently established itself as Red Bull’s strongest rival.
Thanks to the far-reaching rule changes before the season, the Scuderia can be expected again. “It feels good, the last two years have been difficult for us. We were hopeful that the new regulations would be an opportunity to return to the top,” said Leclerc in a first reaction. Ferrari is now back in a position to fight for the top positions, the 24-year-old stated.
Verstappen had submitted in qualifying, and in the third session the Dutchman initially stayed behind Sainz and Leclerc. In the second attempt he at least left the Spaniard behind by just six thousandths of a second. “It was a bit of a matter of luck. But we have a good race car and it’s a good day with a view to tomorrow,” Verstappen said afterwards. His team boss Christian Horner was not surprised. “We’ve been saying all winter they’ll be hard to beat,” he admitted, looking at Ferrari. You have “a good foundation” yourself, said Horner.
You can’t say that about the formerly toughest competitor at the moment. While Ferrari is obviously one of the winners of the rule revolution, things are not yet going smoothly for the constructors’ world champion Mercedes. As expected, Hamilton was behind, but according to the program, he finished fifth, 0.680 seconds behind Leclerc. Teammate George Russell, meanwhile, only starts the race from ninth place.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff spoke bluntly about the current situation in the ORF interview before qualifying. There are “fundamental problems,” said the Viennese about the new car. “We didn’t meet our own expectations.” Wolff specifically called the “bouncing”. The closer the underbody is to the asphalt, the more contact pressure is generated. This increases with speed. If the car is too low, so much contact pressure is applied from a certain speed that the underbody touches the asphalt. This phenomenon is repeated, so that the cars literally hop.
Wolff therefore does not really expect Mercedes to make a comeback any time soon on the top spot on the podium. “There are so many issues that we need to do better that it will certainly take a few races.” He named the European races – starting in Barcelona at the end of May – as his goal. “But I don’t want to get bogged down in that.” Hamilton was not unhappy with fifth place. “It was a nightmare to drive, but we keep working and I’m proud of everyone,” said the seven-time world champion. Ferrari and Red Bull are “in a different league,” Hamilton noted. “But I’m happy. We’re not at the top, but we’re making progress.”
As Gerhard Berger noted, Mercedes took a risk in designing the new car. “You have to see if it works at the end of the day,” said the former Formula 1 driver. Red Bull did a good job thanks to star designer Adrian Newey. “The car worked right from the start.”
Source: Nachrichten
