Charles Leclerc revealed that he chose “extreme direction” in the setup to extract more speeds from the Ferrari SF-25.
Leclerc put together some great laps on the Sakil Circuit on Saturday. McLaren’s Paul Cessitter Oscar Piastri made him just three-thirds, and third place in Bahrain Granpurin.
He’s in the front row of the grid after Mercedes rival George Russell was punished for entering the pit lane before Race Control issued a reboot time in the second quarter.
Ferrari was usually the fourth fastest team in Formula 1 this year, so Leclair’s pace in qualifying was a surprise to many.
Prancing Horse brought a major upgrade to Bahrain, changing five key areas of the car, but still teammate Lewis Hamilton qualified for almost a second from his ninth pace.
Leclerc explained that his setup choice was key to his impressive performance in qualifying, but admitted that such extreme directions involve certain trade-offs.
“In terms of setup, it’s been very difficult as I’ve been running in very extreme directions over the last few weekends,” he told Sky.
“It suits my driving style, but it’s very, very difficult to drive, but it seems like I can extract a little more from a car going in that direction.
“So I keep going and keep racing after the race, so it seems to be getting better and better, and that’s a positive sign of the future.
“But that will be very difficult, especially with used tires, some of the qualifying rounds were everywhere and it was very difficult to put it all together.
“So, so I said I had to trust the car when everything was back and had new tires that it was doing, so I’m very happy about this.”
Leclerc had both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen struggling to qualify on Saturday, with Piastri’s McLaren just in front of him on the grid.
The Monegasque driver said his goal is to grab the lead at the start, but emphasized that on overtaking circuits like Bahrain, the track’s position is not that important.
“Before Oscars, that’s always the target,” Leclerc said.
“It’s a long race. I don’t think it’s that kind of race that tracking positions from turn 3 are the main priority.
“The deterioration is probably the biggest and McLaren seems to be ahead of that for now.
“We have to focus on ourselves. If I can get one or two positions first, I’ll take it. Otherwise we just need to see where we are.”