Ferrari maintained dominance over Mercedes in the second and final day of qualifying for the Grand Prix of Bahrain.
SAKIR, Bahrain—March 30th— Taking two of the three practice sessions this week at the Sakir International Circuit in Bahrain, Charles LeClerc clocked a new track record of 1:27:866 Saturday evening.
It was only his second race in the Scuderia Ferrari team, and it enabled him to take pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Bahrain.
His Ferrari teammate, Sebastian Vettel, took second. With that, the Ferrari team has tied a front row lockout record in Formula 1 history set by Williams and McLaren with 62. Lewis Hamilton finished third for Mercedes.
“In the last race, I was not happy with my qualifying, and this time it worked out, so I am very happy.” Said an honest Leclerc. “It is extremely hard, because Seb (Vettel) is an amazing driver, and I will learn from him. It was a good day for me.”
Leclerc dominated the entire qualifying period, taking the opening first two sessions and never dropping down the grid, finishing with a brand-new track record at the last minute–after realizing that he already pole position sewn up.
His Renault teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, fared much better than he did at the last race, but could not get into the final session–just missing out, and will start 11th. Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, Dani Kvyat and Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly also failed to advance to the final 10 minutes of qualifying.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished fourth and will start along the second row with Hamilton, while Max Verstappen had a good final lap, taking fifth.
Most drivers attend parties afterward and still race the next day, but not this 21-year old from Monaco. “I am going to sleep tonight and will work out the race for tomorrow,” Leclerc observed.
