Charles Leclerc, Ferrari Formula 1 driver, won the pole position in the opening Bahrain Grand Prix of the season.
The Monégasque racing driver was astonished on his pole position against the Red Bull. Max Verstappen clinched the first row by one tenth behind the Ferrari.
Leclerc secured his first-ever F1 pole in 2019. He regain the pole at Sakhir Grand Prix qualifying with two more drivers within 0.129 seconds gap. This pole position is 10th in his career so far.
Leclerc remianed behind his team mate Carlos Sainz for first set of Q3. However, he managed to find himself tenth quicker than the competitors.
Despite pre-season testing results in Ferrari favor, the team was not convinced of the pole position. Leclerc shared the insight claiming Red Bull have quicker car for one-lap. Therefore, his success came as a surprise to the Maranello team.
“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 in parc ferme.
Read More: Mercedes not in position to hunt for F1 title
“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.”
The Monegasque driver believes that he still needs to work on his form. He claims that all drivers will regain their form as they get comfortable with the new 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,” he 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 applauded the team efforts which ended the low-key era for Scuderia in 2022. Ferrari has focused on 2022 rules to make a come-back, which is evident in the preseason testing and Bahrain qualifying.
“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,” he explained.
“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.”
