Charles Leclerc expands on the issues he had in F1 Bahrain GP and how it masked the true performance, facing an unexpected problem.
Having secured a front-row start in F1 Bahrain GP, Ferrari’s Leclerc seemed a bit confident to take on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. But things changed from the onset of the grand prix after he was overtaken by Mercedes’ George Russell for second.
He had front lock-ups a plenty as he struggled with his brakes which was overheating – a problem he hadn’t faced at all in testing or practice. In that process, he lost to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and also Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz.
In fact, Sainz passed him twice. The Spaniard too had issues but he noted that he was managing them as much while also driving aggressively. Leclerc was left disappointed after finishing fourth as he couldn’t retake the place against struggling Russell.
Difficult outing –
Leclerc: “It was impossible in the first 15 laps, the issue was getting a lot worse every lap, so I was obviously basing my braking for turn 9-10 with the previous lap, which obviously fell too late all the time, but the issue was getting a lot worse. So every time I would break three meters earlier, but I would still look up, then at lap 15 or 20, the issue stabilized. The team told me on the radio that it was more than 100 degrees split between from front right and front left, which is huge. So at that moment, I understood that the best thing I can do is just to bring the car home to the checkered flag. And honestly all in all, considering that the issue didn’t get any better throughout the whole race, we started to be more consistent when the issue didn’t worsen and every lap, which was helping me to be more consistent. Considering everything, to finish fourth is a really good effort. But I’m obviously very disappointed with the results. I honestly think that second place would have been very possible.”
Where struggling –
Leclerc: “I don’t think there’s anything to take out of my race. I’m quite surprised when I was hearing the pace at the end of the race because we were doing relatively good lap times with a car that was feeling completely out of place because I had to change completely the brake balance, the engine braking to try and counter that front right brake that wasn’t working properly. So all in all, the pace was better than what I expected with an issue like this. However, to know exactly the real pace is difficult.”
Repassing Russell not possible –
Leclerc: “It would have been very difficult for me to overtake George even though I was faster if he hadn’t done that mistake, because…I couldn’t…He was quite good in the last corner, so I had to go from very far. But with the brakes, it was very difficult for me to take that risk. So it would have been very difficult if he hadn’t done that mistake.”
Red Bull domination –
Leclerc: “I’m sure it’s different. I mean, at least on my side. Again, it wasn’t a small issue. It really felt really bad. So I had to change a lot the way I was driving and I had to sacrifice a lot of braking points. So all in all, I think there was quite a bit of performance in it. But how much it’s difficult to say.”
Here’s Sergio Perez on Carlos Sainz pressing him
Here’s how F1 Bahrain GP panned out
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact