There was a weird feeling inside the Ferrari garage at the end of Friday practice for the Sakhir Grand Prix, with the driver that didn’t run in FP2 bizarrely left a lot happier than the one that did.
Charles Leclerc broke a driveshaft running wide at Turn 8 early in the session and had to limp back to the pits, coasting into the pit lane where his mechanics could recover him. Despite missing out on almost the whole session – completing just two laps – Charles was still encouraged by what he’d felt from his car.
“We were actually better than expected [in FP1] I have to say, and FP2 was also good until the failure on my side,” Leclerc said. “So hopefully it will be a good day tomorrow.
Despite his limited running, Leclerc was also a fan of the short Outer Track at Bahrain, which delivered lap times under of 55 seconds and provided a challenging new middle sector.
“The kerbs are very high there and if you take them a certain way then you touch and apparently people have broken some parts over the kerbs too. So it will be tricky for the race especially. But I actually enjoy the track, very few corners, it reminds me a bit of the karting days too but it’s nice and it should be a fun race.” – he added.
“Finding a gap tomorrow in quali will be my main concern. Especially in Q1 and Q2, which could be messy. The car felt good at the beginning of FP2 so I feel confident we are in a good place, but we still need to see the lap times to confirm this. I enjoyed the track with very few corners as it reminds me of the karting days. It’s a nice track and it should be a fun race. With these long straights, whoever is behind will have a big advantage.” – Charles concluded.
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