Charles Leclerc says beating Red Bull to pole position for Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix is a “good surprise” having expected them to be quicker over a single lap.
In the first qualifying session of the season, Leclerc found himself in a three-way battle for pole with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc had it all to do on his final lap after being outpaced by Sainz on his first run in Q3, but a one-tenth improvement was enough to secure his 10th career pole, 0.123s ahead of Verstappen.
The result marks Ferrari’s first pole at a season opener since 2007, the year it last won a drivers’ title, but Leclerc admitted he was surprised by the result as he was convinced Red Bull would have the edge on one-lap pace over Ferrari.
“We were pretty sure that Red Bull was going to be a bit quicker than us in qualifying, but a good surprise, it wasn’t the case,” Leclerc said.
“So now we need to do everything for tomorrow, it is not going to be easy. Tyre management will be important, especially with this increased weight this year, so we need to focus on that and hopefully have a good race tomorrow.”
While Leclerc topped qualifying for the first time since Baku last year, he noted he wasn’t completely comfortable during the session as drivers continue to get to grips with the all-new 2022 cars.
“It was a very tricky qualifying session, I was not completely happy with my driving, and managed to do the lap in Q3 and then starting from pole, so very happy,” Leclerc added.
“From the driving point, it’s completely different compared to last year. Testing was very useful for this. I tried many different driving styles and still need to find the perfect one. There’s definitely much more to come hopefully from us.”
Leclerc acknowledged it was a real boost for the Italian team to be fighting at the front on merit after its recent bleak period.
“The last two years have been incredibly difficult for all the team and we were quite hopeful that this year was an opportunity to be back,” Leclerc saiid.
“I think we have worked extremely well as a team to find ourselves in a position to fight for better places, so I’m very happy with today.”
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