F1 News: Charles Leclerc questions Ferrari strategy after narrow Bahrain qualifying defeat

Charles Leclerc squints as he looks at a screen in the Ferrari pit garage — Photo: © IMAGO

Bahrain Grand Prix

Leclerc questions Ferrari strategy after narrow Bahrain defeat

The Monegasque driver narrowly missed out on pole

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 1 March 2024 20:27

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has said that his team 'lost the rhythm' in Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying after a change in strategy.

His Q2 time would have been enough to beat Max Verstappen's pole position time, but the Monegasque driver could not put a good enough lap together in Q3 to beat the Dutchman.

It means that he will line up alongside the three-time world champion for the season-opening Bahrain GP, with Formula 1 fans hoping that doesn't mean an inevitable conclusion, as it did many times in 2023.

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Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz looked to have the pace to challenge Max Verstappen during qualifying in Bahrain

Max Verstappen claimed the first pole position of the year in Bahrain

Fred Vasseur - like his predecessor - has come under fire at times for poor strategic decisions from his Ferrari team

Bahrain race to yield unexpected result?

Part of the reason for Leclerc's poor qualifying-to-race result record in 2023 was down to poor strategy decisions from Ferrari, an issue that was even more prominent during the 2022 season.

In this first qualifying session of the year, the team decided to send their star man out on a set of used tyres in Q3, before getting a fresh shiny set for a second bite at the cherry.

Leclerc believes that this led to a loss of momentum in the fight against Verstappen.

"I'm disappointed, but it's a good qualifying. We are in a better place than last year," the Monegasque driver said after qualifying.

"Pole was there in the car, I think we lost the rhythm with the used set in Q3.

"I'm confident we did a step forward in race pace, but we have to wait until tomorrow."

Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok took to X to explain to fans that the fight between Red Bull and Ferrari - in qualifying at least - may be a lot closer than it seems, despite Verstappen claiming pole by two tenths of a second.

Very interesting Quali - sadly we didn’t see the best from Leclerc in Q3.

His Q2 time would have been good enough for pole - one hundredth ahead of Max so it’s definitely closer than everyone expected.
— Karun Chandhok (@karunchandhok) March 1, 2024