Today in Bahrain, air temperature reached 38 degrees, while the asphalt peaked at 57. These will be the conditions during the first and third free practice sessions; the race and qualifying will take place after sunset but still on a hot track, around 45 degrees. After two Grands Prix in cold track conditions and one in the rain, Formula 1 is preparing for the first weekend under more standard conditions in Sakhir. Naturally, those who didn’t collect much in the Melbourne-Shanghai-Suzuka triple-header are hoping the higher temperatures might work in their favour.
Charles Leclerc has enough experience in red to know not to get ahead of himself. When asked if the heat could play into Ferrari’s hands, the Monegasque held back. “I don’t think there are clear signs pointing that way, I see it more as an unknown. In the past, we’ve done well in high temperatures, but at the moment that’s just an indication that still needs confirmation. Obviously, I hope it can work in our favour.”
Formula 1 returns to the track that hosted pre-season testing in late February—sessions that didn’t offer entirely clear feedback due to unusually low temperatures… “We had the feeling McLaren was very strong during race stints,” Charles Leclerc admitted, “but it still had to be confirmed—and now it is. I hope we can turn things around. Last weekend we showed what we’re capable of as a team, but we’ve brought some updates here and I really hope they can help us close at least some of that gap.”
Charles Leclerc doesn’t reveal much about the quality of the technical updates that will be on track tomorrow, but he is slightly more open when it comes to the benefit of the setup solutions successfully tested at Suzuka. “I don’t know if they’ll work on all circuits; that’s one of the questions this weekend will answer. If they work here too, then I’ll be more confident that it’s a direction we can follow for the rest of the year. It’s a choice that suits my driving style well—it was positive at Suzuka—but that doesn’t mean we’re changing the car’s potential, which remains the same. It’s something that helps me maximise the car’s performance.”
Another point Charles Leclerc focused on is the difficulty he encounters when driving in dirty air. “If we’re in traffic, we lose the same amount of downforce with any setup, so I don’t think there are any magic tricks.”
Another matter is the overall potential of the car—something Charles Leclerc called for loudly at the end of the Suzuka race. “As I said, I hope what we bring to the track this weekend can help us close at least a bit more of the gap (to McLaren) and be more competitive with the other direct rivals.”
Finally, the Monegasque touched on one of the topics of the day: the very conservative tyre wear management seen so far this season, as confirmed by the one-stop strategies in the first three races. “We have to be careful with what we say, because one weekend we complain about high degradation, the next we hear that we were too conservative. In Japan the tyres performed well, but we didn’t have enough grip to get close to the car ahead of us.”
“If I could go back, I’d probably ask Pirelli for softer tyres to make the race a bit more exciting. But last Sunday, for the first time since I’ve raced in Suzuka, I was able to push at full throttle from the first to the last lap—and that’s a very pleasant feeling inside the car. It’s just a shame it gets more boring when you’re fourth and you can’t attack or be attacked—you’re just there on your own, doing a series of qualifying laps, without much to gain.”
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