The Bahrain Grand Prix provided Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow with a first indication of the quality of the work carried out over the winter, both in terms of the car itself and how the team worked. Sixth and eighth place finishes for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz respectively are a good starting point for a season that’s going to be long and hectic.
It was the first of 23 stages of what will be a very long season and we must take each one as it comes, working calmly and with determination, just as we did this weekend. In the race, we struggled a bit more than we had done in qualifying, but we acquired plenty of useful data that will allow us to understand where we must improve. There’s a long way to go, but we will continue working to improve in all areas. Now our attention turns to the next round in Imola, which is special for us given that, along with Monza, it is a home race for us.
Mattia Binotto #EssereFerrari
“
It’s a nice start and a good feeling
and I am reasonably happy with the race today. I cannot be extremely satisfied with P6, but at the end of the day we need to look at where we were last year and it’s clear we have made good progress. I had a very good start. I found myself in third place and managed my tyres quite well in the first stint. I think there was probably a bit more left in them, but we had to stop and try to push the others towards different strategies, which was the right thing to do, but it might have cost us a little bit in terms of pace at the end of the race. All in all, it was a good race and a positive weekend and we made a good step forward compared to last season. We’re still not where we want to be, so we need to keep working and pushing very hard to get better in the coming races.
Charles Leclerc #Charles16
“
I think we had a solid first race today.
It was very important for me to complete all the laps and keep building experience with the car. Maybe that’s the reason why this time I didn’t take too many risks at the start and it cost me a couple of places. I was curious to see how the car reacted in the dirty air of a race start and I knew I would have the opportunity to fight back once I got into my rhythm. Once the race settled a bit, I started pushing lap by lap and I think we showed a very strong pace with the Medium tyre and especially with the Hard tyre during the last stint. I also managed to pull of some good overtakes. Today I’m happy for the work we have been doing the entire weekend. Ferrari wants more. I want more. But it has been a promising start and we’ll keep pushing to get there.
Carlos Sainz #Carlos55
4Qualifying
CHARLES LECLERC QUALIFYING SESSIONS
Q1 - SOFT TIRE
1:30.691
Q2 - SOFT TIRE
1:30.010
Q3 - SOFT TIRE
1:29.678
POSITION
4
GAP FROM LEADER
+0.681
CARLOS SAINZ QUALIFYING SESSIONS
Q1 - SOFT TIRE
1:31.653
Q2 - SOFT TIRE
1:30.009
Q3 - SOFT TIRE
1:30.249
POSITION
8
GAP FROM LEADER
+1.218
“
We know now where we are in terms of qualy pace
and it’s a pleasant surprise, as we didn’t expect to be here, but today we need to keep our feet on the ground. It’s only the first qualy of the year and it’s run in very strange conditions. I think we should be satisfied as a team with the step we made since last year, so to be so far forward on the grid feels great. I have been struggling in FP2 and FP3 as I could not find the feeling with the car but I worked quite a lot on the driving and in qualy I was actually quite confident I would be able to do the lap I wanted. I feel confident for tomorrow but it’s going to be difficult as other cars around us seem to be very strong in terms of race pace and are starting on Mediums, so it’s going to be tricky to keep them behind. Also, it’s not going to be easy because of the wind, but that’s the same for everyone.
Charles Leclerc #Charles16
“
A very positive day for the team.
I think we can be happy with where we are. We had that very big shock in Q1, with the car turning off, but thankfully I could start it again and made it to the pits. It’s not always easy to recover from that, but we managed to have a very strong Q2. I’m obviously not happy with my last attempt in Q3. I went for it, but I’m probably lacking a bit more knowledge on the car and I couldn’t put together a clean lap. It is what it is. In general, though, I’m happy. I’ve been improving throughout the sessions, with good pace and very few mistakes so I want to keep gaining experience with the car and building confidence on a one-timed lap. There will be time to analyse Qualifying in depth next week, but now I want to switch my full focus to tomorrow’s race. I’m looking forward to my first ever race with the team and we’ll give our best to gain positions and finish as high as possible.
Carlos Sainz #Carlos55
5Practice sessions
Charles Leclerc Practice sessions
FP1 - POSITION: 5
1:31.993
FP2 - POSITION: 12
1:31.612
FP3 - POSITION: 11
1:32.482
Carlos Sainz Practice sessions
FP1 - POSITION: 8
1:32.366
FP2 - POSITION: 4
1:31.127
FP3 - POSITION: 6
1:32.108
6Circuit Info
Sectors
Turns
Max Speed
DRS
LocationSakhir
First GP2004
Circuit length5.412 km
Race Distance308.238 km
Laps57
Lap Record1:31.447Pedro de la Rosa (2005)
7Bahrain International Circuit
Known for the abrasive nature of its track surface