Charles Leclerc admits McLaren’s pace during the Bahrain Grand Prix free practice is “annoying” as Ferrari works to close the gap.
Friday of the Bahrain Grand Prix saw the McLaren duo, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, dominate both practice sessions. Despite only being practice, the pair finished the evening session half a second clear of George Russell’s Mercedes and Leclerc’s updated Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc made his frustrations with the situation clear. Claiming that regardless of the major upgrade Ferrari brought, the team were simply “just not fast enough.”
“When we look at McLaren, they are just on another planet for now. It’s annoying, but it’s the way it is. It actually motivates me to try and close that gap as soon as possible, but they are incredibly fast.”
Irrespective of Leclerc’s frustration, he admitted that the upgrade Ferrari has brought to just the fourth race of the Formula 1 season, is working. However, it is still not enough to challenge the McLarens for victory.
“[The upgrades] are positive, but unfortunately the gap to McLaren is still big. We’ve got to maximise the car potential that we have for now. If that means finishing third, fourth, or fifth, I don’t know what that will be, but we’ll have to take it. I hope that at one point we’ll be back to being the fastest car on the track. It will be a matter of maximising the car again, but for wins, not for third anymore.”
The Monegasque driver explained that the significantly warmer conditions throughout Friday made for tricker sessions. The conditions were vastly different to what many were expecting, due to the Pre-season test back in February. These warmer conditions ultimately required Ferrari to readjust their setup overnight.
“You go into a session expecting the grip that you had at the test and it’s completely different,” he added. “We’ve got to readjust the car and there will be a lot of work during the night to try and turn the situation around tomorrow.”
Leclerc also remained cautious when asked about Ferrari’s ability to challenge ‘the best of the rest’ in Mercedes and Red Bull.
“With Mercedes, it seems that we are pretty much there. With Red Bull, it’s a bit more difficult; I think Max [Verstappen] had one less tyre compared to us in FP2, so I think he’s probably a bit in front. There’s still some performance to be found on our side, maximising the car and the upgrade. We’ll see where that leaves us tomorrow.”
Lewis Hamilton’s thoughts
On the other side of the garage, Lewis Hamilton shared similar perspectives as his team-mate did. Claiming that the team’s upgrades are working.
“The upgrades are definitely working. A big, big thank you to everyone back home. It’s a lot of work in the wind tunnel and in fabricating these floors. It’s just good to see that we’re taking steps forward.”
However, the seven-time world champion emphasised the team’s need to find consistency in the long-run plans.
“We’re just trying to finesse it, tweak it, and make sure that we have good long-run pace, because that’s where you need to be strong here particularly.”
As qualifying looms closer, Ferrari are aiming to be closer to McLaren for Sundays Bahrain Grand Prix.
