In Bahrain, McLaren once again showed the superiority glimpsed during testing held on this very track. The gap is clear, but this doesn’t stop Charles Leclerc who, backed by the floor updates, sets off in pursuit of the papaya cars.
The Monegasque driver was only able to test the new developments during the second free practice session, as he gave up his seat to Dino Beganovic in the first.
Driver #16 ended FP2 in fourth position, just a few thousandths behind George Russell ahead of him, but four tenths behind the McLarens. The two papaya cars currently seem out of reach, both in qualifying pace and race pace.
Charles Leclerc still did his part in both aspects, but these initial “modest” updates are not enough to close the gap the British team has gained.
“McLaren on another planet”
“We’re not fast enough when compared to McLaren, for now they’re on another planet,” said the Ferrari driver in post-session interviews. “It’s frustrating, but that’s how it is, and it just motivates me to try and close the gap as soon as possible. They’re incredibly fast.”
Regarding the updates, the Monegasque admitted that “they are positive, but unfortunately the gap to McLaren is still wide. We need to maximize the potential of the car we currently have. If that means finishing third, fourth, fifth, I don’t know, we’ll have to accept it.”
“I hope that at some point we’ll be the fastest car on track again, and at that point it’ll be about maximizing the car again. But to win — not just for third place.” Waiting for a better Ferrari, Leclerc believes the fight at the front will once again be between Verstappen and the two McLarens.
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“With Mercedes it seems we’re right there. With Red Bull, it’s a bit more difficult,” he said. “I think Max had one fewer set of tyres compared to us in FP2, so he’s probably a bit ahead. But we can still extract more performance by maximizing the car and the update, and we’ll see where that takes us.”
A Leclerc, then, who wants to give everything to return to the top, but who also acknowledges Ferrari’s current limitations. What is certain, however, is that the update brought to the track has worked: not only Charles Leclerc confirms this, but also Lewis Hamilton and Fred Vasseur.
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