The first Formula One win is special for every driver but Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc will feel it magnified by a thousand if he triumphs in China this weekend after being denied by cruel misfortune in Bahrain. Sunday’s race is the 1,000th in world championship history and the Ferrari driver, who took pole position and set the fastest race lap at Sakhir two weeks ago, can write his name on it with a first victory.
“I hope the car will be as good as it was in Bahrain, so that I can continue to go for the results we deserve,” said the 21-year-old Monegasque.
The same engine that Charles Leclerc used in Bahrain will again be available after Ferrari engineers found a short-circuit in the car’s injection system control unit had robbed him of victory. Ferrari, however, are expected to have the edge down the Shanghai circuit’s main straight, which is over a kilometre long.
“If they are able to maintain those power levels…on a power sensitive circuit like Shanghai, they are the favourites, clearly,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. “The lap time benefit might even be more than in Bahrain.”
Red is seen as a lucky colour in China and Leclerc, who hung on for third in Bahrain and a first podium finish, could do with a slice of good fortune after the disappointment in the desert.
Four-time champion team mate Sebastian Vettel, will also be fired up to re-establish his number one status and close the points gap to Mercedes. The German has won just once in China, when he handed Red Bull their maiden victory in 2009, before the current V6 turbo hybrid era.
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