Charles Leclerc gives Ferrari a breath of fresh air in Bahrain qualifying. Among the satisfied drivers of the day is him, as he gets closer, together with George Russell, to Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. However, the other side of the coin is Hamilton, who remains in the lower positions of Q3 and even finishes behind former Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. What happened to the Briton? Fred Vasseur’s words.
In Q1, the margins seem slimmer than expected after the free practice sessions, and Ferrari starts chasing. Charles Leclerc, in particular, is the only driver along with the two McLaren drivers to set a time that allows him to skip the final attempt in the first phase of qualifying. In the end, the gamble pays off, and he secures P7, while Lewis Hamilton is second.
Ferrari confirms it’s still in the fight in Q2, finishing in sixth and eighth positions. Finally, there’s the uncertainty of Q3, where this year we’ve seen Ferrari lose performance multiple times. This time, however, it doesn’t happen, or at least only partially.
Indeed, on one hand, Charles Leclerc gives his all and manages to secure P3 behind Russell and Piastri, while Norris makes a major mistake. On the other hand, however, Hamilton negatively impacts the day’s balance: the Briton finishes in P9, behind Carlos Sainz and six-tenths behind his teammate.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s Double-Faced Qualifying: Vasseur Explains
Why did Hamilton perform so poorly? Frederic Vasseur explained to Sky Sport Italia: “Lewis struggled in his final lap of Q3, he was there in Q1 and Q2. The first lap was on pace, but in the second, he made a small mistake that forced him to stay behind, but I think the pace was there throughout the weekend. So it’s a shame he didn’t put it all together at the end.”
“All three phases were quite chaotic,” said the Frenchman about the qualifying session. “Even George Russell, for example, struggled to get through Q2, and then in Q3, he made it to the front row. There were differences from session to session and even stint to stint because the car is very sensitive to the wind. And this applies to everyone, plus there was also track evolution.”
With Leclerc in such a strong position for the first time this year, the inevitable question arises: is a podium possible? To this question, Frederic Vasseur answers confidently: “It’s always possible, and starting from third, we need to be ambitious.”
“The problem for everyone is that we didn’t do many long stints with the tires, but so far, we’ve seemed to be in good shape for long distances. We need to do a good job. We have an extra set of medium tires, and we hope that will be an advantage. Two-stop strategy? Yes, but we’ll see,” concluded Ferrari’s team principal.
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